


Meta: On the Theme of Redemption via Scarlet Spider Series

by pariahsdream



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Scarlet Spider (Comics), Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: Analysis, Body Horror, Canonical Character Death, Character Analysis, Criticism, Discussion, Discussion of Rape, Essays, Gen, Meta, Series Spoilers, discussion of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-08-20 00:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20218543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pariahsdream/pseuds/pariahsdream
Summary: What it says on the tin - after reading the latest Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider series I got the itch to examine how each series took on the theme of redemption and how well it was executed. Also examines the backgrounds of Ben Reilly and Kaine from Clone Saga all the way through to current series.





	1. Introducing Our Heroes: Clone Saga

**Author's Note:**

> I want to talk about something everyone is interested in- Spider-Man’s clones!  
Okay, I get it, Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker don’t tend to show up on a lot of people’s radars as much as other characters, even Spider-adjacent characters. And probably the only people who will glance at this are already familiar with what I’m talking about but I do want to start off with setting up where these characters started from and how the theme of redemption plays a big part in both Scarlet Spider (2012) (Kaine’s series) and Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider (ongoing). 
> 
> Warning: There will be discussion of abuse, rape, suicide, self-harm and other unsavory topics.
> 
> Warning 2: I will be also discussing spoilers for various storylines including Clone Saga, Grim Hunt, Clone Conspiracy and probably some other stuff I’m forgetting. Basically if there was a clone involved with it, I will probably refer to it.

For the thoroughly new - Ben Reilly and Kaine (Parker) were both introduced in the (in)famous 90’s Spider-Man storyline “Clone Saga”. Well, technically, Ben was introduced far further back during Amazing Spider-Man #149 (1975) but that was originally written as a standalone story without any indication of continuing. In said story, a clone of Spider-Man, created by a character named Professor Miles Warren (a teacher of Peter and Gwen Stacy), was introduced and fought Spider-Man. Towards the end of the comic, a body dressed like Spider-Man was crushed under the debris from an explosion and the story stated that the clone (not referred to as Ben yet) died. This was the end of this idea for the original writer, Gerry Conway. 

The Clone Saga took that issue and asked a simple question - what if both men walked away that day, how would you know which was the clone and which was the original? 

For all the oft-stated issues surrounding the Clone Saga, there was a nugget of interesting ideas to explore and it did introduce to the world Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker. From the outset of their creation during this storyline, Kaine and Ben were put in opposing and juxtaposing positions both in text between themselves and meta-textually. 

The Clone Saga is overlong and was editorially mandated to extend multiple times, but I’m going to explain the parts that matter here as best I can. 

Ben and Peter in context of the Clone Saga are written as heroes in different stages of their journey; Peter has been doing the right thing, fighting the good fight, etc. for at least 10 years, give or take sliding timescales. That’s a long time for anybody but given the history he has with grief, loss as well as the deliberate introduction of May’s terminal illness into this storyline, the writing is showing that Peter will either need to lay down his sword, so to speak, or possibly lose what makes him the hero.

Ben is set up as the hero who doesn’t know yet if he can do it. Despite the 5 or so years he’s had as Ben Reilly, his re-introduction to Peter is also his re-introduction to the idea of taking on responsibility and inheriting the burdens of being a hero. He has all of Peter’s abilities but he’s still got a lot to prove both to the reader and to the in-universe people he comes into contact with. The point of the whole storyline is to give Peter an out as Spider-Man while introducing a new character to take up the mantle from him. (Not necessarily a bad idea but superhero comics have a fraught history with passing legacies).

Kaine is not set up as a hero. He is quite literally named for what he is supposed to be revealed as - a brother driven to murderous jealousy per the titular Biblical Cain. I find it interesting that Kaine isn’t even given a cursory illusion of his own life like Ben is; in his introduction in Web of Spider-Man #119, he already has his costume (doesn’t everyone want a fashionably ripped magenta cape?) and he’s working as a mercenary. He doesn’t even have a surname (he gets the Parker name bestowed much, much later). Part of this is to shroud the reveal of him as another clone of Peter but I do wonder if one of the writers (DeMatteis?) latched onto him and developed more of his psychology than was intended to be there. Regardless, Kaine is both meta-textually and in story posed in deliberate opposition to Ben. 

So we know who the characters are as far as their roles in the narrative, who are they to each other and what drives them? When are the seeds of redemption planted and for who?

Ben is a man looking for an identity separate from Peter; this is his driving motivation as stated repeatedly by Ben himself. Because Ben has doubt over whether he is a clone, he was in conflict with whether or not he was worthy of even being a human. He lashed out at the world around him and anyone that attempted to offer help because he was hyper-focused on his own pain and his origin - suspected or otherwise at the time. 

While during the Clone Saga Ben is shown in conflict with Peter, either physically or mentally, Ben is never positioned as even really antagonistic to Peter. There is no doubt as to the moral character of Ben, and that the threat of him being the "real” Peter Parker is more to do with how each man perceives himself. This is important to keep in mind in regards to redemption.

Kaine on the other hand was stated to know from the beginning he was the clone, due to the fact he was the “imperfect” version of Peter Parker and also an imperfect version of Warren’s work. I want to go more into detail about Warren later but it is important to note from the outset Kaine was rejected by Warren, whereas Ben left of his own accord. 

Regardless, Kaine is definitely an antagonist through the series, having no compunctions about fighting anyone and everyone that he regards as in his path and working against basically everyone. 

During the Clone Saga, Kaine puts himself into situations where he alters how circumstances turn out for Peter and Ben. He takes steps to aid Peter while hampering Ben- literally stalking and getting into a fight with Ben immediately upon seeing him again in NYC after chasing him out of Utah. Moreover he frames Ben for murders he committed while in Utah. After coming to NYC, he works to protect Peter from the Grim Hunter (a son of the original Kraven the Hunter) and ends up killing him to do so. He is also responsible for killing Doctor Octopus after the doctor cures Peter of a killer disease he received in a fight with the Vulture and Owl Man. Doc Ock and his partner, Stunner, had planned to escape custody but Kaine prevented Stunner from helping the Doctor break free. At the outset, it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense why Kaine does this except he establishes a pattern from here on out- taking to fighting the newly reformed Sinister Six. 

Far from being a simple killer, he demonstrates a moral code that separates him from other villains- he goes out of his way to try to protect Mary Jane from yet another Peter clone who slips into paranoid insanity, as well as preventing thugs from finishing their attack on a homeless woman. This doesn’t discount or make up for the terror he puts MJ through or his unprovoked attacks on Ben but it does make him a character of complex and seemingly conflicting interests. 

Ignoring all the fake-outs and the “who is Peter Parker” back and forths that plague the Clone Saga, from Kaine’s point of view, Peter is a clone like him and Ben is the original Parker. So... in that context, there is an argument for Kaine’s name to be a misnomer. 

Kaine’s behavior stems from a stated desire to protect Peter and preserve the life he’s built for himself with Mary Jane, whom he envies but without the twisted hatred he has towards Ben. He sees Ben as a threat and will do _ anything, _ including frame him for murder, in order to protect Peter. This is how Kaine sees his role in the story and how he frames his actions. 

This devotion to/protection of Peter is shown via the revelation that Kaine is a clone, giving heretofore unknown context to his actions in the story. Per Kaine’s own words to Mary Jane about how he tried to give meaning to his life after finding out what he was, it is apparent that Kaine and Ben are in conversation with each other - how they choose to deal with their hurts and how they interacted (or didn’t) with the rest of the world. 

Ben cycles through different jobs and cities, ostensibly because he has no legitimate paperwork, but I think it highlights how Ben wants a life and is willing to do what he has to in order to carve out one. He may grieve the loss of being ‘Peter Parker’ but that doesn’t prevent him from making connections either. In the Lost Years mini (also printed as the B side of_ Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #223 _), the #0 issue has Ben grieving losing his identity, getting drunk and then reaching out to a man on the bus to prevent him from committing suicide (there is an unstated but obvious link between the suicidal man and how lost Ben feels at this low point in his life). Nevertheless, Ben comes out of the issue feeling more sure of himself and unwilling to give up on life.

Kaine does not interact with the world beyond working as an assassin periodically. I would go so far as to say that the only reason Kaine does this is to have money to live on and he has no other idea how to use the powers he possesses. He is never shown even out of his mask until his reveal. He has only a single name and no demonstrated connection to anyone. When he is shown interacting with other people, he is purpose driven and doesn’t see them as anything more than obstacles in his path. Essentially, Kaine has given up on the possibility of having a life of his own and acts accordingly. 

While I do believe there is a core of actually wanting to help Peter keep a life Kaine himself cannot seemingly have, there is an undercurrent of jealousy that is undeniable as well. Kaine’s behavior is irrational and disproportionate to what Ben does. In fact, nowhere in Clone Saga does Ben do anything to Kaine, either in flashback or current times, other than defend himself.

Kaine never really reaches out during the Clone Saga and therefore cannot grow beyond the antagonist role yet. Any sympathy his origins grants him only makes it more necessary to see him come to justice, particularly of his own accord. 

He also moves to shut out Ben when Peter has a crisis of faith in himself (whether this is believable is probably subjective). Peter decides that if he’s the clone, then he would join with Warren and his clones. Despite the fact Jackal betrays Kaine, unwilling to address his degeneration, Kaine is so lost that he still willingly stays with Jackal as long as Peter does. 

While this is not a good decision on either of their parts, Kaine’s willingness to do so shows that he does want connection and that he is willing to put his own abuse aside to support Peter. Peter and Jackal are essentially his only family. The cloned Gwen is here as well but there is little demonstrated interaction between her and Kaine (more on that later). 

This is the point in which Ben fully steps into the role of hero. Ben is positioned as the lone sane man as well as the one trying to get Peter and Kaine at various points to be their more noble selves. He is the reason that the tide was turned against Jackal during the confrontation on the rooftop of the Daily Bugle and had the heroic moment of saving the city from the bomb. From this point on, there is no doubt that Ben is a fully realized character and hero.

Kaine, although ultimately ending up siding with our heroes, does not turn out to be one himself. While he does give himself up to the police and confessed to the murders he attempted to frame Ben for, this is not out of selflessness. He does this only to prevent Peter from stepping in and revealing himself to the court/everyone. In fact, had Kaine not done this, the sympathy the audience had developed likely would have lessened or even died off, making his actions to protect Peter seem disingenuous in hindsight.

To sum up the Clone Saga, Ben is depicted as a man who is striving to gain a foothold onto the world and in doing so becomes the hero he was reluctant to attempt to be. Clone Saga really is a showcase for Ben as Peter’s successor. It’s less so for Kaine but it does introduce what drives him as well as making a case for him as a tragically flawed person. 

So now we know who our characters are and who they grow into through the course of the Clone Saga. But there is more to unpack here, specifically their backstory hinted at during the main Clone Saga event but not revealed until the Lost Years/Redemption storylines. 


	2. Romance, Trauma and Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we examine who's a Spider Ho.

Okay, we’ve established when Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker were introduced and explained how the Clone Saga has put them in contrast and conflict. Moreover, Ben was shown as a character willing to interact with the world around him apart from Peter Parker and his established roster of characters and how Kaine was shown to have given up on the possibility of having a life. Both of these approaches can be directly tied to two mini series, Spider-Man: The Lost Years (‘96), and Spider-Man: Redemption (‘96). 

In these series the audience is given more detailed information regarding the murders that Peter/Ben was accused of during the latter parts of the Clone Saga. Specifically who was murdered and why. I will go into the why very shortly but first I think it’s time to bring up an area of interaction that I haven’t really tackled yet- how Peter, Ben and Kaine specifically interact with women, particularly ones that are/possibly romantically available to them. This is important to both of these minis as well as defining each man from each other. 

Peter is definitely a romantic hero from his inception. He has a storied history with women, including several well-known love affairs that even the general public are aware of. Romance and Peter Parker are interlinked in an inescapable fashion. 

So, what about romance and our clones, Ben and Kaine?

Ben easily and quickly takes up in the Peter model - during the Clone Saga itself, he’s shown as at least passingly interested in four women- Betty Brant (left), Janine Godbe, Gabrielle Greer and a clone of Gwen Stacy. Three of these women are figures that have a history with him, Betty and “Gwen” being connected to his “past” insofar as he has Peter’s memories where Janine is from Ben’s actual lived in past. Whereas Betty and Gabrielle mostly seem to be Ben being well, a heterosexual man appreciative of attractive women, Janine and Gwen are of more import, especially in juxtaposition to Kaine. Ben is shown as deeply attracted to the Gwen clone and falls into a trap set by the Jackal because he was disarmed (metaphorically) by her.  


At the climax of the fight with Jackal during the Clone Saga, both Peter and Ben nearly trip over each other (as well as Jackal and MJ) attempting to save her from being knocked off the top of the Bugle. This Gwen clone doesn’t fall to her death, thankfully, but she does make her escape before there can be any sort of rekindling of a romance between either Peter or Ben.  


As for Janine, I will go into her backstory and function shortly but suffice to say she is the most impactful woman on Ben during this point in his life. 

Another female figure, while not seen as romantically available, is Mary Jane. MJ is heavily involved with the Clone Saga as well, partly due to her status as Peter’s wife but also as his confidante, the person who knows him more intimately than anyone else, even demonstrating she can recognize the difference between Peter and his clones. 

She is his emotional bedrock and touchstone which neither Ben nor Kaine have. I find it somewhat interesting that while Ben clearly is attracted to Gwen, he doesn’t show any such feelings towards MJ. Do clones share similar preferences regarding their partners? Spidercide (another clone) goes after MJ and seems to want to protect her but it comes across as less romantic than pushing Peter’s controlling behaviors up to 11. So does the divergence in their histories make a difference or no? Is it akin to twins not necessarily having the same sexual orientation? Or was it more of an editorial decision to remove the possibility of emotional if not sexual cheating? It’s not wholly relevant to the points here, just an observation. 

Kaine does interact with MJ as well but does not show any pull towards her either. Kaine is not shown to have any interest in women in the main Clone Saga at all (and very little afterwards, spoilers). He doesn’t even demonstrate attraction to the Gwen clone the story introduces, which is in contrast to both Peter and Ben. Later in Spider Island he refers to another Gwen clone (named Abby-L) as a sister. This is putting a retroactive lens on something written 2 decades earlier but I don’t think that it contradicts what’s on the page. Literally Kaine shows no sense of Gwen’s history or importance to Peter. This may be due to writers trying to keep his identity a secret; granted this doesn't wholly make sense since he doesn’t interact with her until the end of the Clone Saga and after he's been revealed as a clone. Given how the Clone Saga was handled behind the scenes and the number of plots, characters and motivations being juggled, I tend to err on the notion that the writer(s) simply wasn’t thinking about Kaine’s motivations in this regard. 

Even so, I find it interesting that this lack of romantic interest isn’t a one off; Kaine encounters other Gwen clones and still doesn’t show attraction to her (the aforementioned Gwen in Spider-Island, Gwen of Earth 65, or later the cloned Gwen during Clone Conspiracy). He is shown to be in a companionable role or even a sibling-like dynamic when they interact. Kaine calling one of the clones ‘sister’ during Spider-Island can directly lead to reading the relationship he develops with “Spider-Gwen” during Spider-Verse/Clone Conspiracy as an older brother figure given their age difference.

The first woman that Kaine is involved with sexually and romantically, is Louise Kennedy, who I’m going to go into more detail shortly when I talk about “The Lost Years”. Aside from that, there was a minor thing that happened over the course of a four parter set after Clone Saga called "The Return of Kaine". Kaine encounters a woman named Shannon Fitzpatrick, aka Muse. 

As the majority of this "relationship" was based on manipulation and secrecy I hesitate to call it that but it is (unfortunately) part of a pattern in Kaine's interactions. He has a clear blindspot in regards to women that makes him particularly vulnerable to them. There is definitely a reason why he finds women far less threatening than men but it's pretty open to interpretation. Either it's a (misogynistic) view that they are no threat physically.... or he finds men inherently threatening due to past experiences. Make of that what you will.

For now I’m going to go back further into another important building block of how Ben and Kaine interact with other people.

The time has come to address the creeper in the room, Miles Warren, aka the Jackal.  


* * *

**MILES WARREN**

Miles Warren is a villain who started as a biology professor that became obsessive towards his  _ much younger _ student Gwen Stacy and shown to practice grooming behaviors towards her (left).

(the Gwen reflecting here is actually a clone going by Gwen Miles, but it can be taken as understood that this ‘past’ happened to the actual Gwen as well)

While there are some depictions of Warren that comes far too close to attempting to sympathize with him for my tastes (his original ‘death’ in ASM #149 and looking at you, Terry Kavanagh - Web of Spider-Man #125), the majority of writers that I’ve seen handle him understand he is a loathsome character whose obsession with Gwen is sick (DeMatteis in particular is very aware of this) and very wrong. 

What is less textual so much as implied is Warren’s obsession with Peter as well. After all, why clone your ‘rival’ as well as the woman you “love”? The stated reasoning is Warren wants to torture Peter but the fact he continues to produce clones of  _ both _ Gwen and Peter suggest that there’s something else at play as well.

The abuse that the Gwen clone is put through focuses on isolating her, forcing her dependence on Warren and rape via deliberate withholding information about both of their backgrounds, specifically the Gwen clone Miles marries- although even this is another manipulation. After the “marriage” is performed, the comic reveals that everyone involved were clones that immediately dissolved. Their life together is 100% a fabrication orchestrated by Warren for his own benefit. 

What he does to the Gwen clone is disgusting and without defense but it is all pretty much on page and easy to cite as abuse.

Also easy to see is the way Warren interacts with the Ben (and by implication, Kaine)(right).

Warren uses the Peter clones as punching bags, mentally and physically. He puts them in a vulnerable state, dependent on him (sound familiar) and then uses the opportunity to take out his jealousy and insecurities on them. He enjoys having “Peter” under his thumb. 

What is less textual and requires more intuiting is the motivation behind this. Let’s go into the ways we can interpret Warren’s behavior towards Peter/the clones:

1 - Warren has a latent attraction towards men that he supplements with violence. 

2 - Warren is simply a man who gets off on power over others regardless of gender.

3 - Warren’s loss of his original family has been perverted into putting himself into the position of a father figure regardless of whether he’s wanted or needed.

For point one, this is pretty self-explanatory but something to consider is that Warren is quite a bit older than Peter and Gwen. Even if the sliding timescale means that Gwen and Peter weren’t in college in the 70’s anymore, Warren is still from a different generation with different ideas about homosexuality and what is permissible for a man to find attractive. He may not be able to even admit to himself or even truly recognize what he’s feeling towards Peter beyond jealousy. Therefore the only way he can safely “have” Peter and not feel emasculated is to isolate and abuse a clone of him. 

For point two, this dovetails into what I have just laid out except it removes the (for lack of a better term) sympathetic angle. Warren’s sexual interest is less to do with gender and more to do with sadistic power plays. It is also narrowly focused on specifically these two characters (and the clones). Jackal never displays any interest in other characters regardless of his power over them or their attractiveness. 

Finally, during Web Of Spider-Man #125, Warren’s backstory references a lost family, implied to be driven away by his workaholic attitude (and possibly his wife sensing his unhealthy interest in Gwen?). Guilt can manifest in people attempting to rectify a situation over and over again to, in a sense, change the original trauma’s outcome. It’s not unimportant that Warren would be aware of both Peter and Gwen’s lack of parental figures (Aunt May notwithstanding) and that Warren continually refers to the Peter clones as his sons and even the Gwen clone as his daughter. Through his grief, he hyperfocused on his two favorite students and the ‘concern’ he felt towards them gradually increased and then was pushed over the edge by Gwen’s death. 

So which is the correct interpretation? For myself, it’s a mixture of all three. The narrative may not explicitly state what Warren does to Ben or Kaine after they are born, but sometimes panels speak loudly on their own (left).

I want to single out this particular panel because the framing of it brings to mind how abused children are depicted in media; a larger (male) figure looming into the scene while a smaller figure is shown curled in on themselves, often on a bed. 

So while much of this isn’t explicitly referenced on page, a lot of the subtext is there, particularly with Kaine. This is heavily implied in the Redemption mini which is the next section. 


	3. Bookends: The Lost Years & Redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which _Spider-Man: The Lost Years_ and _Spider-Man: Redemption_ are examined for our themes and how these series are meant to be examined together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Some mild nudity in the ref images (nothing explicit).

I am examining these two together because they are bookend series that are in conversation with each other, written by J.M. DeMatteis. 

* * *

**Spider-Man: The Lost Years**

_The Lost Years_ goes into detailing exactly that- the lost years between the original Clone story (Amazing Spider-Man #149) and the beginning of the Clone Saga, stated to be about 5 years in universe. This series is focused mainly on Ben but Kaine is in contrast with Ben again here. During this storyline, both men are introduced to women that will have clear impact on how they relate to other people going forward.

_The Lost Years_ starts with an issue #0 which reprints B-side stories of Ben being born/finding out he is a clone/establishing a new identity separate of Peter. In the #1 issue, Ben arrives in Salt Lake City, Utah, three years into his 5 years out from ASM #149. 

He has been on the move pretty much constantly since his “death” in Amazing Spider-Man #149. Ben has taken on a ‘lone wolf’/road warrior/cowboy sort of vibe to himself. Never staying long in one place means lacking responsibilities but also means very few connections save for Sewer Trainer (referenced in the Clone Saga and here as a mentor figure to Ben).

After arriving in Salt Lake, this is the point where Ben meets Janine Godby/Elizabeth Tyne (I will refer to her as Janine for simplicity’s sake).

Janine is functionally very similar to MJ and is even a redhead. She becomes Ben’s anchor point to normal, everyday life and gives him more hope than anyone else up until this point. Ben, like Peter, seems to be a character that prefers to be in love and revels in it. This idyllic love story has the air of that classic movie set up of two lonely outsiders finding something special but with lingering danger just outside their bubble like  _ True Romance _ or  _ Baby Driver. _   


During the course of the Lost Years and Redemption, Janine’s backstory is revealed and establishes why she pulls away from Ben initially. She was sexually abused by her father and pushed to the point of killing him in order to stop the cycle. One of the narrative points in Lost Years examines what is moral and what is law-abiding- examined through our protagonists, Janine as well as Detective Raven and Louise Kennedy. Ben does not shame or reject Janine for her past and thereby signalling to the reader that taking the law into her hands here was morally justified if not legal. Contrast this with Kaine and his relationship with Louise Kennedy.

Louise Kennedy is introduced playing a sleazy drug dealer character in a bar Kaine is already occupying. It’s shortly revealed that she is an undercover cop, one that Kaine is uncharacteristically drawn to given his lack of interest in other people in general. 

Kaine falls  _ hard _ for Louise, though given how quickly Ben and Peter do the same with their own lovers, perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising. Louise is nothing like MJ or Janine; she is realistic to the point of cynicism, a character that works elbow deep in the darker side of humanity. Despite how Kaine expects her to react to him and his body, she sees something in Kaine that is beautiful, drawing her to him as much as the reverse. 

(Kaine also indulges in the time-honored Spidey tradition of benevolent stalking. Oy.)

Both of these relationships are shown as whirlwind, stated in the comic as being about a week in length, consuming to the characters and include secrecy. Whereas Ben and Janine decide to allow themselves to be vulnerable and trust each other with their deepest secrets (her abuse, his status as a clone), Kaine and Louise do not. 

Ben’s relationship has both good and bad characteristics - where he begins to open up and establish himself as his own person, he is also just as quick to throw everything away in order to keep the woman he loves from the law. The narrative treats this as romantic but in hindsight, it does domino into both Ben ending up back in New York and Janine “dying” (revealed in Redemption to be her faking her death because of Kaine emotionally blackmailing her). There is an almost desperation here, a longing for a connection and a sense of normalcy. Ben throws himself headlong into this relationship and, like Peter, considers it worth everything he’s got. It’s very romantic but fundamentally, this is a woman he just met, accused of murder, and he’s willing to break the law to protect/be with her. 

This isn’t to discount the fact that Janine is in a bad situation and Ben shouldn’t feel moved to help her out. From the hindsight of 20 years out, we know that statistically that women who defend themselves against their abusers are treated far harsher by law than is necessary or just. Janine is right to be frightened of what could happen to her even if the narrative frames Detective Raven, the policeman who identifies Janine as Elizabeth Tyne, as a moral and just man. She has no reason to believe that Raven can protect her any better than her super-powered lover. 

Additionally, I think it’s important to recognize that Louise and Janine’s first interactions with Kaine and Ben set the tone for their relationships. Where Janine was in a normal “meet cute” in a diner and introduced to Ben’s secrets later, Louise was not. I don’t think it’s suggesting too much that Louise’s attraction to Kaine is at least in part due to the physical power she sees him using. And he uses it without qualm either, much in the same way she uses her power as a police officer. 

When Louise is revealed to be a dirty cop, it isn’t a surprise to the reader. Like Janine, she felt her situation necessitated using violence but unlike the other woman, she finds it empowering rather than shameful. What is an act of self-defense for Janine is a means by which Louise can “get hers” while everyone around her, including her very moral and law-abiding partner (Raven) can suffer the consequences instead. 

During the climax of the mini series, Louise is ordered by the mob boss she’s working for to kill Ben for his interference. Kaine intervenes, shocked to his cord that Louise is working for a man like Tannen (the mob boss). When Kaine confronts her after interfering with her attack, he breaks down and begins to sob. Part of this is because Kaine doesn’t really want his connection to Ben severed and because who he imagined Louise to be wasn’t real and he couldn’t handle that either he never knew her or that he is never going to be drawn to anything but darkness. Kaine made assumptions about who she was without knowing her, which is the saddest part of all. Maybe Louise did love him. Maybe he loved her. Regardless, he made his choice- when she again goes after Ben to cover up her connection to the mob, Kaine snapped her neck. 

At the end of the series, one clone rides off into the sunset, secure and even more tightly bonded with his love while the other ends up going down a darker path without any positive human interaction. Small wonder that Kaine and Ben’s next meeting in Clone Saga isn’t very friendly. 

But Janine isn’t in Clone Saga, is she? What happened to this woman Ben was willing to risk everything for? This is addressed in the next mini series, “Spider-Man: Redemption”. 

* * *

**Spider-Man: Redemption **

As evidenced by the title, the mini-series “Spider-Man Redemption” is explicitly tying the theme of redemption to these characters; arguably more Kaine than Ben as Ben has already received the blessing of the series’, in-universe and out, as being worthy of being a hero.

[Traincat](https://traincat.tumblr.com/tagged/traincat%20talks%20comics) already has an excellent meta analysis about this series and I don’t want to go over too much of the same ground. 

Briefly- _Redemption_ reintroduces both Kaine and Janine Godby back into Ben’s life, this time in NYC. Kaine last had been seen being used by a very wealthy businessman as a pawn in a “game” pitting super powered people against one another. This goes about as well as can be expected. Ben had talked Kaine down from killing the woman manipulating him (Muse) but Kaine still leaves feeling bitter and angry.

Kaine starts in the very first issue of Redemption looking to die to escape the pain he is in constantly due to his degeneration. He also wants to take Ben with him, though the motivation isn’t as clear this time. Peter and MJ are not around, nor are they the subject of any deadly visions, and all are under the impression that Ben is the “real” Peter, rather than the clone. 

This is where I want to take a moment to draw a line between Kaine’s mental stability and his physical stability.

From the moment we’re introduced to Kaine, we are introduced to the fact he is dying. He has something fundamentally wrong with him - physically speaking- that likely has an effect on his mental state. Take for example the spider-sense Peter and the clones all have. While it warns Peter and Ben of immediate danger to themselves, due to his degeneration, Kaine’s spider-sense has been hyper-extended to actually give him precognitive visions and not necessarily of himself. He has incomplete, unreliable information forced into his brain painfully (it’s canon that the spider-sense isn’t a pleasant sensation), leaving him trying to avert what is happening in these visions. This is exactly what prompts him to stalk MJ- to alter the vision he has of her being murdered. 

This is just one aspect of his body’s betrayal of him. Numerous times Kaine says that he feels like he’s burning from the inside out, likely his cells burning up at an accelerated rate. Think about how woozy or discombobulated you can be with only a fever. Now think about how much effort it takes to feel like that and function every day for your entire life (even if you’re only about 5 years old). Kaine manufactures a poison that mimics how his system is destroying itself and injects it into Ben during Redemption in order to give him a taste of what it’s like to be Kaine. Ben describes it as unrelenting pain and even passes out from it, while Kaine has lived with it for more than 5 years. He also had the added complication of keeping himself safe from anyone that would attack him or try to take advantage. It’s not surprising how reasonable concerns about his safety slipped into paranoia.

Then there’s also the physical aspect of his appearance that takes a toll on him mentally as well. Peter and Ben are, if not otherworldly gorgeous, at least handsome enough that women readily hit on or remark on their attractiveness. 

Kaine is supposed to look like them and does not. While there is a lot of discussion on how harmful the obsession over looks is for women, there isn’t nearly as much focus on the effect this has on men. Kaine loathes himself not just for how much his body hurts him but also the fact that people recoil from him on sight because of its grotesqueness. He knows he’s a “monster” not just because of what he can do but how people react to him. There is nothing he can do to fix it beyond covering himself head to toe. That bitterness can easily build up into an obsessive hatred of his own “brother”, Ben. 

Granted this is me theorizing and I am far from an expert on depicting mental illness or chronic pain. But I do think you can take the threads already here and work it towards where Kaine ends up. For all of Kaine’s villainy, he tends to fall into a very pragmatic, anti-hero style along the lines of the Punisher, Red Hood or Winter Soldier. All of these characters have personal codes of behavior even at their worst and operate both in league and opposite heroes at various times in their careers. All of them are also trauma survivors due to horrific circumstances and the narrative around their characters takes the pains to be sympathetic to them because of these events; Punisher’s origin as the only survivor of his family’s slaughter, Red Hood being beaten to death/blown up as a teenager, and Winter Soldier being kidnapped, brainwashed and forced to serve as an assassin.

Kaine, like them, displays a lack of choice in his villainous origin. While all the characters above could be argued as putting themselves into dangerous situations where there was no guarantee of safety, Kaine’s origin is even more unique in that he literally did not ask to be created. He is, in effect, solely the responsibility of Miles Warren.

This is not to say Kaine is absolved of the mercenary work he did nor the other people he murdered for his own reasoning. Kaine did kill people without remorse or concern. These murders were done long after he left Warren. He has autonomy over his own actions just as Ben does. 

Returning to the Redemption mini-series, Ben has settled into a life of his own with friends, a career and embraced the role of Spider-Man now. Janine meanwhile had been thought dead by Ben and he is very startled to find her in his apartment. She doesn’t immediately disclose why she is alive as she and Ben resume their romance but it is revealed to be a means for Kaine to torture Ben before ending their lives (his and Ben’s).

[ As already stated by traincat ](https://traincat.tumblr.com/post/182672129604/about-baby-may-this-is-a-tangent-since-it) , it’s fairly obvious that DeMatteis (the writer of both mini series) is juxtaposing the character of Janine with Kaine himself rather than Ben. Ben is already in the position of Good and Moral in this series who makes the right decisions because of a moral code he innately has. Kaine and Janine are abuse survivors, having suffered at the hands of their father figures. Their morality, whether or not it is stated as such, is understood to be more dubious than Ben’s. It takes Ben’s efforts to reach out to both of them, speaking to the humanity in them, that causes any self-reflection and change. 

Still, that isn’t to say that DeMatteis is implying that Janine and Kaine are inherently amoral or even evil. Rather that the circumstances that made them who they are means that they react from the standpoint of the abuse coloring their perceptions of people and the world around them. This line in particular, “(Janine) who’d known too little love and too much fear” stands out to me. Kaine and Janine isolate out of self-protection which ends up with them being love-starved (and harkens back to how quickly both fall in love in “Lost Years” with the first people that treat them with compassion). Moreover, Janine states that the part of her that was Elizabeth (her birth name) doesn’t believe herself worthy of Ben’s love or forgiveness. It’s not unlikely that Kaine is also seeking, if not Ben, someone to absolve him and love him. 

Ben isn’t ignorant to Kaine’s suffering. He acknowledges it even as they fight. He’s the one that says that Kaine should understand how Janine feels. How she’s been abused. Take note that Ben is aware of the incestuous abuse that Janine suffered from her father. While Kaine keeps asserting that he and Ben are the same (which they are because clones), he also admit that he understands Janine too in a way that Ben doesn’t. 

Janine, in her thought boxes, admits that she buried “Elizabeth” because she was weak and scared but that she didn’t really feel alive until she met and fell in love with Ben. This isn’t exactly what happens to abuse survivors in real life but having connections and feeling safe and cared for can do much to improve the survivor’s outlook. 

Kaine doesn’t have this. As sad a fact as it is, Ben and Janine are the closest approximation he has to family and friends. In effect, Kaine’s depression and hopelessness has crashed down into suicide ideation and he is trying to reach out to the only people he really exists to. Granted, manipulating them and torturing them isn’t the best way to go about asking for help but as stated, Kaine isn’t entirely functional mentally. 

I will freely admit that I have not read the Ben Spider-Man era of comics so I can’t speak to whether or not Ben’s trauma gets addressed on panel in the same way that Kaine’s gets referenced repeatedly. But from what I can see, the effect is that the trauma affected Kaine more explicitly than Ben. I am not trying to pit the two against each other to say who “got it worse”, but rather point out that the narrative doesn’t show Ben with noticeable lingering effects while it does with Kaine. The degeneration may factor into this but I think it does have more to do with the perceived imperfection in Kaine that doesn’t affect Ben.   


There are other instances that back up the fact that Warren is more abusive to the imperfect clones- during the Clone Saga, we are introduced to “Jack” who turns out to be a little person version of Peter (I’m guessing that’s what the art was going for) as well as several that don’t have the mental acuity of Ben/Peter or have other physical defects. Point of fact, Kaine is actually the most independent and capable of the ‘defective' clones, which probably makes Warren’s taunts that Kaine is his “favorite” hurt even more.   


In the final two issues of Redemption, Kaine attempts to go through with his plan even as he admits to himself he has reservations. Ben is in the position of Moral Authority here- absolving Janine in her part in faking her death and her lack of faith in him. But he’s also acting as Kaine’s executioner, which is exactly what Kaine thinks he wants. He pushes Ben past his breaking point, which probably gives part of him a sense of satisfaction that he can pull him down to Kaine’s level but ultimately it’s a hollow victory.

Moreover, Kaine can’t even let it happen; instead of letting the “fire” consume all three of them and innocent bystanders, Kaine saves them. This is the biggest indicator that Kaine doesn’t actually want to kill anyone here. If the Kaine of the Lost Years is a feral child, then the Kaine of Redemption is almost akin to an melodramatic teenager who may say that they hate X, Y, or Z and hopes they die but in reality doesn’t mean it. Unfortunately for this, in regards to Kaine, is that he is both capable and powerful enough to carry out such cries for attention. 

Interestingly enough, although Ben is ostensibly the hero, he doesn’t save Janine or Kaine, not with any typical heroics. Ben appeals Kaine’s compassion by invoking Janine’s past to ask Kaine to do what no one would for Kaine himself - he asks Kaine to save her. At this point, some readers may think that this is a redemption for Kaine but it isn’t and Ben is used to point this out; Ben refuses to grant Kaine death nor will he allow him to go unpunished for his crimes. 

Janine is the narrator in this section and it really hammers home their connection; when Ben urges Kaine to accept responsibility, Janine feels like it’s something she must do to find peace as well. She also understands how Kaine cannot find peace yet, that his death seeking is a product of intense self-loathing (at least in part) that ties back to his father figure’s abuse. Just as hers does. 

This mini-series is a start down a new path for Kaine and if not a happy ending for Janine, at least then a resolution to her past. Neither she nor Kaine can run from the things they’re responsible for the actions they’ve taken. 


	4. Okay More Context

I swear I am getting to the point of discussing how redemption is depicted in each Scarlet Spider series. I have established both the introduction of Ben and Kaine as well as the shared history between them prior to interacting with Peter. Let’s see where Marvel had left each character since these storylines.

My knowledge of Ben’s tenure as Spider-Man is basically limited to directly during/after Clone Saga and a smattering of other appearances. However, I recently did get to read Spider-Man V.1 #75 (1996), wherein Ben was murdered by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn).

Ben had been using the Spider-Man mantle for a year or so out of universe and probably somewhere around that in-universe (sliding timescales probably mean this was actually even less time but that’s a headache to figure out so meh). Peter and MJ are called back to NYC and a storyline is introduced that calls back to the original Clone Saga. 

The issue makes reference to Dr. Seward Trainer, the man who supported Ben in his hobo days (ahem), and also confirmed that Ben was the “real” Peter, not the clone. Spider-Man v.1 #75 reveals that this wasn’t actually true; in fact, Trainer had been ordered to do this by Norman Osborn in an effort to drive Peter over the edge and ruin his life. This is the first reappearance of Norman after his infamous death during “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”. 

There’s not much of anything in the comic to speak of in this context except that Ben sacrifices his life to save Peter from being impaled on the Goblin Glider (shades of Norman’s own death). He even metaphorically hands the mantle back to Peter. This is also the story that confirms without any ambiguity that Ben was always the clone. After he dies, Ben turns into dust; keep this in mind for later that there is no body to retrieve. 

Kaine was also murdered, his death coming later during the Grim Hunt storyline (2009-10), orchestrated by the Kravinoff family. 

Kaine had not been involved with Peter or Ben for at least a few years in-universe; there have been several comics set after the Redemption mini-series that established Kaine broke out of prison and was in search of a cure. After the attack made on him by Ana Kravinoff, Kaine seeks out Peter to warn him about the plot against them (them being Spider-powered characters).

During the course of the story, Kaine switches places with Peter and even dons the Spider-Man costume in order to prevent Peter from being killed in a ritual designed to bring Kraven the Hunter back from the dead. Kaine sacrifices himself for Peter just as Ben did in his story. This ought to be the end for both characters; they have sacrificed their lives and it was in service to their own ‘brother’. 

But is that redemption?

Ben at this point does not need redemption and his death is simply a matter of heroic sacrifice (and shock value for storytelling purposes). 

Kaine’s redemption arc, while a long time in coming, is still incomplete. 

The staging of Grim Hunt could be interpreted as a redemption. Kaine literally clothing himself in the costume of a hero to perform his sacrifice. Moreover, it can be argued that by virtue of being a clone of Peter he has inherent qualities to him that makes him worth ‘saving’ or understanding. However, in my opinion, Kaine hasn’t really earned redemption in the eyes of the reader yet. 

When he was last seen with any sort of regularity in the Spider-Man comics, he was an antagonist and still using his abilities purely selfishly. Even his sacrifice for Peter can also be read in a selfish manner; in some ways, Peter living means that Kaine lives on as well. But to be an actual hero, both in the general universal sense and the literary sense, Kaine must sacrifice for the greater good without any benefit to himself. 

This is where _Scarlet Spider_ (2012) comes into play. 

* * *

**TINY FOREWORD (I SWEAR)**

I think the simplest way to go about this (she says after however many hundreds of words) is to examine each Scarlet Spider series by collected volume. Each series has 25 issues and roughly the same amount of volumes where a mini storyline is contained (ideally speaking). 

I will also include any crossovers or events that address the themes through the books (but only include the ones that do). Although Kaine is resurrected during_ Spider-Island_ prior to his solo series, I don’t think that event has much bearing on Kaine’s development save for bringing him back from the dead. And let’s be honest, this essay is completely unwieldy already and isn’t meant to be an exhaustive play-by-play. 

Note: There will be less images in these sections as the runs are relatively short and/or recent and therefore easier for a reader to get through than Clone Saga/etc. 


	5. Scarlet Spider (2011- Kaine Parker)

###  **Vol 1 - Life After Death (1-6)**

* * *

Within the first few panels of the first page of _ Scarlet Spider _ (2011) we have Kaine caught between his stated desire - disappearing to Mexico- and being drawn into other people’s problems. The very first person that needs his help is Maria Aracely Penalba (hereafter referred to as just Aracely), one of our supporting characters throughout the series. She very clearly is supposed to represent the ‘little people’ that get stomped on and the chance for Kaine to do something selfless, rescuing her, or turning his back on his responsibility to do something with the power he’s been given.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it.

The tagline for the series was “All the power. None of the responsibility” which was definitely not meant in earnest. Seeing Aracely in that tanker, surrounded by dead bodies, strikes a deep chord in Kaine’s psyche. He cannot ignore her anymore than he can ignore the effect his past still has on him, regardless of his new start. Kaine is still in the mindset that he doesn’t owe anyone anything, that if he does one good deed (dropping Aracely at a hospital and thereby making her someone else’s responsibility) he can still walk away from his conscience. 

In doing so, Kaine is introduced to the second of the four recurring characters in the series. It is noteworthy that three of the four of them are in some way involved with helping others either through profession - Donald and Layton are a doctor and cop respectively- or through desire to reach out- Aracely demonstrates huge amounts of empathy and eventually decides she will be a superhero like Kaine. 

Kaine is a man in transition, not only physically but mentally and emotionally. He is aware of the second chance he’s been given and thinks by escaping his past, by going to Mexico, he would be taking advantage of that chance. But something in him- call it Peter’s memories or his innate character- doesn’t allow him to leave Houston after rescuing Aracely from human traffickers. 

Kaine isn’t exactly thrilled by his own behavior. He states over and over again his desire to leave, that things aren’t his problem, and tries to remain self-focused. At this early point, Kaine still sees himself as a bad person and his instincts tend towards violence more often than not- it takes effort for him to not kill Xiuhcoatl (someone sent to kill Aracely). Kaine wants to be someone else, wants to have this second chance work but he doesn’t realize that it isn’t like flipping a switch.

To be fair to the character, this is the first time in his life he’s not dying and in full control of his faculties. (He was cured of the cellular degeneration during another event, Spider-Island, which included Kaine being turned into a man-sized spider. Because comics.) He also does make the concrete decision to be better than he had been- no one telling him to be better, but finally clear-headed enough to realize that he doesn’t have to be a monster. He isn’t beholden to either other people’s ideas of him (Jackal, Ben, etc.) or even what his precognitive spider sense warns him will come, mostly because this power is gone after he’s cured. 

Issue #2-4 are about setting up Kaine putting down roots and realizing when it’s time to move on from his past. Issue #2 has him fighting to protect innocents in spite of his own “better” judgment and thinking it’s better to stay uninvolved. 

Compare this image (R) to the one of Ben during the Clone Saga(L); this is a man starting on his hero’s journey and being recognized for his efforts for the first time in his life. Both Kaine and Ben do not think themselves worthy of these accolades (Ben is more melodramatic about it, fitting the 90’s style). This is a key evolution point for Kaine- he has a ‘home’ now, one he’s expected and even encouraged to protect. People are actually happy to have their own superhero protector (regardless if said protector wants to be called a superhero).

But even as he is welcomed by Houston, Kaine is reminded of his own misdeeds; he cannot walk into this life of a hero without taking on what happened in his past. This is not to say to wallow in it- a subplot for Layton, the doctor, #2-3 involves a grieving man unable to move on from traumatic events. This is clearly an example of what being stuck dwelling can do to a person, destroying everything around them. It is a consequence for Layton as a doctor that he has to face every day the possibility he cannot save someone’s life. For Kaine it is a consequence of deciding to end other people’s lives. 

Kaine doesn’t choose to wallow or give into self-recrimination. As he says, “He deserves this (death). But not from these bastards. '' He acknowledges that his actions are wrong but he isn’t going to allow just anyone to take control of his life or decided when it ends. Kaine fully intends to be the arbitrator of his fate. Nevertheless, there is the bargain he makes with the Assassins Guild, showing that Kaine is still dancing with his past and what it means for his future. 

Issue #5 doesn’t seem to, at first, have anything to do with Kaine’s overall growth as a character; it seems to be a straight-forward action story about finding/disarming a bomb. It is notable that while Kaine kvetches about not being much help against a bomb, his first instinct is selfish; he wants to save himself (and people he’s attached to now) first, and tries to convince Layton that this is the only smart thing to do. 

He and Layton, the other main character in this issue, butt heads about a lot of Kaine’s methods and I believe this is when Layton truly realizes the man he’s put faith in to help protect Houston is really new at this super hero gig. At the end of the issue, they are triumphant, having defused the bomb (in a hilarious little moment) and Layton welcomes Kaine fully as an equal to protecting Houston.

Issue #6 is the final issue in this volume and it starts out showing how much has changed even in such a short time. Kaine has taken ownership of Houston, defending it and working hard to make it safe for the people within. 

He also takes ownership of his body by getting a tattoo. This might seem like overthinking, but often after going through traumatic situations people seek out ways to reclaim their life. You can see it in how many people get tattoos after deadly illnesses or assaults or even surviving accidents. Kaine’s decision to get a tattoo establishes his body as his own, separating it not only from Jackal but from Peter. Still, it is interesting to note that part of the tattoo includes a triskele which is a symbol often associated with three phases (life, death, renewal) which seems quite appropriate but could just as easily refer to Kaine, Ben and Peter. There’s no explanation of it on page so it’s open to interpretation.

Another aspect of Kaine accepting his new life shows in how the issue devotes time between himself and Aracely. Before she was less a person really and more of a burden to Kaine. In this issue we see the real beginning of their dynamic and how no matter how frustrated he may get with her, Kaine doesn’t lash out at Aracely. He is concerned for her safety (in his very grouchy, gruff way) and indulgent with her desires. It also lays the groundwork for future plots involving Aracely’s mysterious past and her powers, including a psychic connection to Kaine.

Ideally, the first volume of a comic book series should establish what the series is setting out to do, like a pilot to a TV show, at the very least in broad strokes. Scarlet Spider (2011) Vol 1 really hammers home the idea that for Kaine to grow as a person to be a fully rounded personality with relationships and wants of his own, that he cannot continue to exist solely on his own. 

It also doesn’t shy away from showing the consequences of things Kaine did as an assassin for hire. Not only with the Assassins Guild in #2-3, but also with the return of Ana Kravinoff in #6. She was instrumental in his death during the Grim Hunt storyline and Kaine reacts accordingly. 

Kaine wants to be better but is struggling against his past (literally with Ana) and it is an appealing and compelling struggle.

###  **Vol 2 - Lone Star (7-9, 12-15)**

* * *

This particular volume can be solidly separated into two parts, issues #7-9 and then #12-15 with distinctive plots. Issues #7-9 are concerned with Kaine getting deeper into Houston/Texas as his own home and, in doing so, learning about the local history, heroes and villains that he hadn’t encountered in his first volume. This helps flesh out Houston which doesn’t have the rich and complicated history that NYC does in the Marvel universe. 

This section deals with an attack on Roxxon, the main supplier of jobs in the Houston area in the Marvel universe. Roxxon is one of the sinister corporations like Oscorp that runs afoul of the superhero community on a regular basis. In Houston, Kaine finds the Roxxon headquarters being attacked, the top floors blown up by a rocket. He rescues a woman, from falling off the building and in short order finds himself in bed with her. Just as a note, Kaine doesn’t initiate this relationship either but neither does he shy away from the sex.

The woman, Zoe Walsh, gets around to the fact she was the one who shot the rocket at the building. Even Kaine knows this particular “relationship” is a bad idea and gets out of Dodge (so to speak) as soon as he can. Zoe tries to explain why she attacked the building, but her line of logic or lack thereof gets in the way. She knows something bad has happened in Galveston because of Roxxon and her father.

Zoe is an odd character. While the overly sexual behavior is semi played for laughs, there is a sadder aspect to it that’s more obvious upon repeat readings. From her extreme behavior and various things stated in-story, it’s apparent that Zoe’s mental state is more fragile than most. It’s not too far-fetched to assume this isn’t the first time her father tried gaslighting her, telling her not to believe her own instincts and that she’s imagining things- when he deigns to give her attention at all. It’s unfortunate that the narrative leaves her blaming Kaine for her father’s condition and vowing revenge. 

After dealing with the human traffickers and Xiuhcoatl in the first volume, Kaine is a little lost as to go about actually doing the business of being a hero. He tries to walk away from the mystery behind Zoe and Galveston but can’t stop himself from dwelling. Kaine knows it’s going to bring trouble into his life but still ends up investigating the mystery. He does _ want _ to do good in this new life of his but doesn’t really have a long term goal or plan on how to do that. He’s making it up as he goes along.

When Kaine attempts to confront CEO David Walsh about the explosion in Galveston, he encounters other heroes for the first time in Houston. 

The Rangers are a team of six super-humans that have appointed themselves as protectors of the Southwest, and to a lesser extent, in opposition to Roxxon’s more sinister corporate dealings. While this is only addressed in a minor way, it does have the effect of implying they aren’t just brand new characters with no thought behind their creation or history. It’s a very small bit of exposition but its inclusion is a nice bit of world building. When Kaine fights them the first time he calls them “arrogant, self-righteous, something to prove” and reads their body language pretty well, enough to gauge when to strike and who. This leads to a nice bit of call back later as Kaine harshly applies the words to himself when it looks as if he’s made an error in following this plot. 

After the heroes finish the typical first meeting dust-up, they converge on Galveston and the oil tanker where the explosion happened. It’s revealed that not only did Walsh know about the energy creature needing to have a host to control it, he provides bodies for this very purpose. He was also aware that Mammon (the creature) would burn through these bodies at an increasing rate, killing the host. This is a direct call back to the human trafficking in #1. These themes of body horror, bodily autonomy and the abuse of indigenous people’s bodies are all a throughline in the series, touched upon again and again. 

This theme of Kaine’s main battle being against human trafficking and fighting for those who cannot defend themselves against “monsters” follows straight into the next part of the volume, #12-15. This is what calls to Kaine deeper than anything else; certainly he wanted to stop Roxxon from unleashing Mammon, but it was the use of people that gained his ire. He is frustrated that the corporate world continues on, sweeping everything under the rug, including blaming it all on Walsh and ‘erratic behavior’ cited in his family history. Also note that Mammon is often referred to as the demon of greed/money.

While #10-11 are not included in this volume, some of the plot still has an effect on Kaine. He and Agent Venom went up against Carnage and Kaine feels guilt over not being able to save people from being brutally murdered by the serial killer. He also finds himself shying away from his more aggressive/deadly instincts. Kaine struggling against these darker impulses and thinking of himself as a monster is featured in the whole series but it’s brought to the forefront in this section of Volume 2. 

Aracely gets to step more into the forefront of the narrative as well. This begins with the light-hearted #12, a Christmas themed issue that has the whole gang - Kaine, Aracely, Donald, Layton and Annabelle all participating in thwarting robbers dressed like Santa Claus(es). It’s a nice breather between the corporate evil and the coming darker themes. Everyone in this issue gets to do something to further the plot and work together - Donald helps sober up Kaine (who is in self-destructive mode after the fight with Carnage) as well as giving him food for thought about his role as a hero and what it means to all of them.

Layton and Aracely directly head to confront the robbers. Aracely uses her empathic/telepathic powers offensively notably for the first time. Meanwhile Annabelle tricks the head robber into coming up to Kaine’s suite upstairs where he proceeds to trounce him soundly. The issue doesn’t have a lot to do with the overarching plot or the mini arcs in this volume but it does help solidify Kaine’s relationships and their importance to his life.

The next section of the volume starts at #12.1 (I don’t know either) with Kaine being drawn to the scene of a crime that has a 14-year-old girl with a handprint burn on her face. This is very similar to Kaine’s own “Mark of Kaine” power - where he uses his ability to cling to surfaces to burn a hand-shaped scar on a victim. The narrative doesn’t shy away from Kaine’s past brutality and forces himself to confront what he’s done- sometimes literally as in this instance. 

The combination of a child (very close in age to Aracely) being murdered along with the reminder of what he’s done himself sends Kaine on a rampage through the gangs of Houston. He’s led to a man named Mark Tomanaga, a member of the Hand. The Hand at this point is run by Kingpin, a familiar rogue of Spider-Man as well as other vigilante heroes. While Tomanaga is ultimately killed by Kingpin’s henchmen, Kaine is still left unsettled by the whole situation. 

In a step towards accepting that he has a responsibility to do right with his powers, Kaine vows to rain down hell on the monsters that prey on the defenseless. In doing so he goes on at least a week-long campaign against the human trafficking problem in Houston. Kaine admits that everything he does is only a drop in the bucket- but this is par for the course for heroes. Batman and Spider-Man don’t expect to end crime forever and ever and they’ve accepted that because doing something about the evil right in front of them is better than doing nothing at all. Kaine hasn’t quite reached that part yet. 

Aracely’s plot comes to the forefront at this time as well. She is having visions or dreams about her past (dropping hints about upcoming plot lines) and Los Lobos come into town looking to kill her, sent there by Moctezuma (who was responsible for sending Xiuhcoatl in #2) . It’s revealed that it was his doing that Aracely was in the tanker in the first issue because he was trying to kill her and deliberately left it out in the sun before shipping it to Houston. 

He and his group are aware of her survival and wanted her dead due to some sort of connection she possesses to Huitzilopochtli, which will possibly interfere with their plan of having Mictlan rise and destroy the world. Los Lobos are a pair of werewolf siblings and they easily track Aracely. Kaine attempts to get to her safety but they are extremely deadly and he’s been running down his reserves of energy. During the fight, Kaine has the chance to deliver a killing blow with his bone stingers but he hesitates, flashing back to Carnage killing people in a similar manner. This is a far cry from the Kaine of Clone Saga who would coldly kill anyone standing in the way of his goals like the Grim Hunter and Doc Octopus. 

His character growth has the unfortunate side effect of getting him mauled, leaving him on death’s door. Kaine ends up having visions of the Other- an entity that’s part of the mystic connection that Spider-themed heroes have. The Other was rejected by Peter, who preferred to cling to his humanity rather than ‘the other’ spider part of himself. The Other reveals that it was responsible for Kaine’s initial resurrection after the Kravinoffs killed him, which explains his extra eyes (he lost those), the stingers and the connection to spiders he didn’t have prior to this. 

Kaine wonders if it’s necessary to become a monster in order to fight monsters. He resists this idea, partly because this is pretty much what Peter strives against himself and partly because Kaine knows what he’s capable of when he has no moral rudder. This ideal and how much he’s striven to put who he was behind him means so much to him that he’s willing to die rather than leave his hardwon humanity... until he remembers Aracely. Kaine, in an act of love and devotion, agrees to be a vessel for the Other. 

Kaine’s willingness to give up not just his life but also his death for someone else is a strong point of evolution of him as a person. He doesn’t want to be a monster; he is tormented by the very idea of losing the humanity he has fought hard for. He also will have to fight for control of himself again. Although different from the manipulations of the Jackal, Kaine still finds himself at the whims of another that views him as a tool. Kaine didn’t have to fight Los Lobos, they give him the opportunity to run away and leave Aracely but Kaine’s love for her is without concern for his life. It even brings him back from death.

While Kaine is in a cocoon healing from the attack, Aracely has been trying to escape Los Lobos by darting through the contested gangland areas. This slows down Los Lobos but doesn’t stop them, nor does Aracely using her empathic powers against the brother character, forcing him to feel fear. Before they can kill her, Kaine shows up. He is in a mutated spider-human hybrid form (more body horror and a call back to Grim Hunt) that is notably animalistic and only focused on “prey”. This is Kaine without any morality whatsoever, all instinct and no humanity. While in this form, Aracely’s empathic powers can’t get through, she can’t feel Kaine. Whether or not this is meant as a metaphor, it works quite well. If Aracely is essentially Kaine’s conscience made manifest then it stands to reason that when he’s lost to his base instincts, he can’t “hear” her. 

Despite knowing this and despite the fact Kaine is out of control, Aracely doesn’t stop trying to reach out to him. Even though she’s terrified by what she feels and sees Kaine do, she manages to assert their bond and Kaine reverts to a human form. The depth of their bond is literally what saves Kaine’s soul. Although it hasn’t been touched on much before now, Kaine has been certain in the past he has no soul and is a monster. The fact that he now “looks” as much if not more of a monster as he did when he was dying convinces him that he isn’t human anymore. 

While there is a lot of growth of character for Kaine and specifically his bond to Aracely, the narrative doubles down on his fears and worries, upping the stakes for the next volume. 

###  **Vol 3 - The Big Leagues (16-20 + Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 2)**

* * *

This volume starts off with a lighter tone than the last issue/volume ended with, a reprieve from the body horror and death. In #16, like #12, the whole Scarlet Spider cast is involved and while not as cohesive as foiling bankrobbers this time, they all have fun little moments.

This volume is heavily focused on Kaine seeing himself as a monster and being tempted to act like one. Issue #16 plays the idea for laughs, with Armadillo (with a call back to the Rangers as he was a former member) being a blubbering ex-boyfriend causing a ruckus at the local rodeo after hearing of his ex’s engagement to a rodeo star. Kaine does step in to prevent any more chaos but once he realizes that the Armadillo is in pain, he pities the man inside the monster costume. 

Another ‘monster’ of sorts that appears in this issue is Annabelle’s ex-boyfriend. He’s controlling and dismissive of her and while it’s not shown on page, it’s likely he could turn physically abusive given his large size and the way he drags Annabelle off with him. This is also implied by the argument she and Kaine have after he inadvertently insults/upsets her. She insists that she knows what a monster is really like and Kaine is not one. Everything seems neatly resolved at the end - Armadillo and his ex are reunited, Kaine and Annabelle kiss and her ex is gone. Except Ana and Kraven Kravinoff observe this kiss as they are at the rodeo stalking Kaine. There is also a later panel showing Annabelle burning an urgent note from Julia Carpenter (the current Madam Webb, a precog). This note urges Kaine to leave town and Annabelle’s reaction might seem odd/selfish, this is likely a being named Shathra masquerading as Annabelle (not stated outright but revealed in Volume 4).

The next issues, #17-19, deal with the aftermath of the Assassins Guild plot from #2-3. After being summoned by Belladonna, the leader of the Guild, Kaine’s favor is called in; she has received a contract to kill Wolverine. Kaine allows Aracely to come with him to New York, which shows how much Kaine sees it as his responsibility to look after her. He could just as easily leave her in Houston with Layton and Donald or Annabelle but he takes her with him instead. Obstinably this may be due to his trick he pulls off with the X-Men later but Kaine isn’t known for a lot of forethought. 

Aracely decides at this point she needs a costume and a codename (Hummingbird), highlighting how much she’s imprinted on Kaine and wants to follow in his footsteps much like a child or younger sibling. She doesn’t question what Kaine is doing when they spring their plan on the X-Men and trusts that Kaine knows how to fix the situation with the Assassins Guild. The plan goes off as planned- convincing the assassins that followed them that they have killed Wolverine and the X-Men retaliated accordingly. In truth, Kaine had Aracely convince Wolverine to give their charade a shot, demonstrating how much Kaine relies on Aracely as much as himself now, trusting her to do her part for him. 

The next two issues of this arc focus on Wolverine and Kaine as they leave Aracely in the care of the X-Men. It is interesting to note that none of the telepaths want to be around Aracely and are pretty freaked out by her. Moreover, Beast confirms that she is not a mutant but does appear to have a second presence/other creature riding alone in her brain, a parallel of Kaine’s situation with the Other. Aracely doesn’t seem bothered by this news at all, more interested in asking questions about everything. 

While Wolverine and Spider-Man have encountered each other on and off through the years, it’s never been what you could call a friendly relationship; I wouldn’t categorize Kaine and Wolverine interacting here as friendly but there is an air of two like souls. Their fighting styles are brutal and efficient in ways that aren’t often utilized by heroic characters. The Other is pleased with the violence but Kaine himself is conflicted by how easy it is for him to fall back into old patterns. Just as when he considers letting the Assassins Guild kill Logan as per the contract, Kaine’s self-preservation instincts are on full display. And yet he keeps making the choice to do the harder and more noble thing. It’s a long, messy fight over these two issues. Eventually the Assassins Guild and their would-be goddess are defeated, but it does require Kaine to threaten to use his stingers in a fatal manner. He is left disturbed by his decisions during this arc and while he took the only route that made any sense to him, protecting Aracely and himself, he knows it wasn’t necessarily the “right” choice a hero would make. 

The last two issues in this volume, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #2 and Scarlet Spider #20, deal with Kaine seeing “Peter” for the first time since he left NYC after _ Spider Island _. At this point in Peter’s life, his body had been psychically hijacked by Doctor Octopus. Recall that Kaine killed Otto during the Clone Saga as it’s apparent that Otto definitely does. While the issues are pretty standard as far as interactions with Jackal go, mutant hybrid spider people notwithstanding, the real thrust of the confrontation with “Peter” is Kaine’s perceived self-worth and how it’s been affected by the last several issues. 

Kaine states over and over that he’s a monster but when it’s “Peter” parroting his worst fears back at him, it cuts to the bone. This combined with a confrontation with Jackal, which always leaves Kaine off-kilter and emotionally raw, just adds extra insult onto injury. Kaine does attempt to defend himself- both physically but more importantly, emotionally. He sees Peter as someone to look up to, so being rejected by him hurts but he still demands that Peter live up to his own standards (granted as this is actually Otto in Peter’s body he definitely isn’t). 

This is Kaine at his lowest point- he’s been reminded of being rejected and ‘trashed’ by his creator and reminded, again, that Ben was the perfect clone while he was not. Moreover he has to hear from “Peter” that the Gwen clone (and thereby himself) are abominations and basically unworthy of life. The Gwen clone chooses to die in the fire at this point and it’s not a far stretch to think this rejection was the final straw for her. Kaine isn’t quite suicidal but this rejection cuts deep as Peter was the one to encourage Kaine to get a fresh start and called him brother. The final page with Kaine shows him seeing his regeneration scars in the mirror- while aren’t real but speak to his mindset right then. He felt the most unworthy and least human while dying from his degeneration. This is Kaine at a crossroads again, having made wrong decisions for the right reasons and taking the consequences for them, including feeling abandoned by the only person he has a familial connection to. 

This volume builds up from the previous two, showing how complicated the process of being a hero and atoning for one’s past actions is. Otto’s attack on Kaine is a direct callback to Kaine’s murder of him during the Clone Saga, again, showing that Kaine is forever in dialogue with who he was as a person. The narrative is hammering home how important it is that becoming who you want to be is a continual process and that you can make bad choices even when you are trying to do the right thing.

###  **Vol 4 - Into the Grave (21-25)**

* * *

This is the final volume of the series, covering #21-25. Issues #21-23 are really the climax of the series and then #24 & #25 act as more of an epilogue to that and the series as a whole. The first three issues bring together all the hints and groundwork about Kraven and Ana Kravinoff that has been seeded through the whole series. In the previous issue, Kaine had been blow darted during a trip to the airport and the end scene of him seeing his scars in the mirror is part of a hallucination he’s suffering from.

Everything that Kaine hallucinates highlights how far he’s come as a person and how much it would devastate him to lose it. His scarring is emblematic of so much trauma and regret that his lashing out at everything and everyone around him is less about rage than terror. Kaine is already having issues with his identity per the last volume and when Aracely attempts to calm him telepathically, he ends up switching to the Other form to lash out at her. This horrifies him enough to snap out of it briefly, but the effect of hallucinogens are too powerful at this point and Kaine’s emotions are riding high. 

The most potent of these hallucinations is of Ben Reilly- this is aided by Kraven donning the original Scarlet Spider costume. He uses this to try to manipulate Kaine's perception. He also accuses Kaine of stealing Ben's identity, but rather than get defensive or angry, Kaine apologizes and cites Peter and Ben as people he’s trying to honor and living up to the examples they set. Although Ben is not present in the series, as he’s dead, that doesn’t mean he isn’t having an impact on Kaine’s journey to being a hero. Even though there’s not a lot of explicit reference to Ben, this exchange with Aracely is very telling (L).

The blue sweatshirt looks very similar to the original hoodie Scarlet Spider look, no? Moreover, Kaine knows who Ben is and what type of person he is, which leads him to reject Kraven’s emotional manipulation. He finally acknowledges to himself that he’s paid for his crimes and that he doesn’t need to justify himself to anyone. It’s a powerful moment of Kaine coming into himself but it’s not the end of things either. While Kaine and Kraven are having their confrontation, Ana is kidnapping all of the people close to Kaine. 

This battle with Kraven is representative of Kaine coming to grips and rejecting who he used to be. He is literally confronted with his past coming back from the dead (waking up in the grave really hammers this home). Kraven points out all the terrible things Kaine has done, tries to insist that Kaine is a predator, uses them to berate Kaine and push him to the cliff emotionally. Ana also attempts to push this further by saying all of Kaine’s loved ones are dead and Aracely will be next. This does have the effect of pushing Kaine to an animal rage but again he uses the memory of Ben and how he treated Kaine to calm down and think.

Kraven wants to die or kill Kaine in this fight and even goes so far to gut Donald when Kaine refuses to comply. This is fairly standard villain stuff but what makes it fresh and interesting again is the fact that Kaine’s instincts aren’t like a typical hero. Still, because Kaine _ is _ a hero, he doesn’t fall for these manipulations. He falters - killing Kraven is emotionally satisfying for the reader but Kaine working to restore him is more in keeping with who Kaine wants to be. He states to Ana earlier, _ “I’m going to choose what I am. Not ANYONE else.” _ Kraven forced Kaine to kill him but Kaine decides to bring him back because he’s not going to be forced to kill by anyone anymore and it’s important to him to have that authority and autonomy over himself. 

This should be a triumphant moment, right? Unfortunately, that’s not how things work out for Kaine. Donald is still bleeding out and even after getting him to the hospital, it’s very touch and go. Moreover, Layton, Donald’s husband, is distraught. He’s angry and blames Kaine for the attack. Previously he’d been happy to have him there and didn’t really question who Kaine was prior to coming to Houston even if he did note how violent he could be. By the end of #23, he finally takes steps to get the full story (or as much as is available to the criminal databases in the Marvel universe). 

Issues #24-25 deal with the fallout from Layton’s research; Kaine is troubled by what Kraven manages to do to his loved ones and takes the blame on himself. He thinks of himself as weak but he’s grown so much from the first issue that he doesn’t even consider running this time. He does want to quit being a superhero (having a cute homage to the infamous image Peter quitting being Spider-Man from ASM #50) but even this doesn’t pan out as his suit refuses to burn. He returns to his suite in the Plaza and runs into Annabelle.

After some good old fashioned hetero sexing, we quickly find everything going to hell in a handbasket. In rapid succession- Aracely tries to explain about a new nightmare/vision she had, they discover the Annabelle Kaine slept with is actually a being called Shathra and Layton comes to arrest Kaine. 

Kaine doesn’t want to fight Layton at all and even offers to surrender without qualm (a far cry from his Clone Saga days). This is very noble certainly but everyone around them knows that it’s not about Kaine so much as Layton needing to find an outlet for his anger at not being able to protect his husband. Layton weakens for a moment but then resolves when Ara tries to force him to back down. Fortunately (sort of), Zoe Walsh from the Roxxon arc shows up (along with real Annabelle) and attempts to blow everyone up because she “loves” Kaine. 

The last issue, #25, opens up with Kaine and Aracely in Mexico, and we find out through a set of flashbacks how everyone fared after Zoe blew up the top floor of the Plaza. She is knocked out in quick succession by Annabelle, which only leaves Shathra as the main antagonist. Layton and Kaine end up working together to stop her because ultimately Layton knows Kaine is not the man he used to be. More pragmatically, Layton knows that even if Kaine is wanted, he’s doing more good being outside of the law as a vigilante than sitting in jail. Hence why he chooses to shoot Shathra in order to help Kaine escape it. 

In a call back to the very first issue, Kaine steals from drug dealers in Mexico to fund his and Aracely’s flight south. He’s still smarting from how things ended in Houston, guilt eating at him. Regardless, he has come so far as a character and a hero. He’s still irascible and far more prone to deadly violence than most, but he knows who he is and what that power means he needs to do. This is all but perfectly summed up in the scene where Kaine tries to ignore tourists getting attacked early in the issue, and then the reader finding out at the end that he saved them in spite of his complaining. Whatever Kaine may think of himself and however he may falter, Aracely and the readers all know that he has fully earned his redemption and his status as a hero.


	6. Clone Conspiracy + Vol 1-3 Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider (2017)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider_ is going to be split between 2 chapters instead of one.

###  **CLONE CONSPIRACY**

* * *

We need to address a storyline that is integral to where Ben is as a character prior to the _Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider_ series. 

_ Clone Conspiracy _ comes far after Ben Reilly is killed on panel during Spider-Man #75 (96), so how can Ben be involved? 

Well, if you’re not new to comics you can come up with half a dozen ideas off the top of your head but for this particular storyline it “resurrects” Ben Reilly... except not really.

Miles Warren decides to clone Ben again (the man needs another hobby) except this time, he finds a way to do it while keeping all the previous person’s memories, including their death. This horrifying in of itself but then there’s this panel (right).

Yeah. This Ben is murdered over and over and over again. I want to be explicit here- he was tortured mentally by knowing  _ exactly _ how he died every single time by a sadist who chose to use different means each time “for science”. There are reasonable expectations of sympathy towards Ben when he is revealed to be the new Jackal villain after this and in context to how he got there. Even so, is Ben actually Ben?

Out of universe, the narrative and all information surrounding the Ben Reilly character treats this Ben as one in the same from Clone Saga and the time thereafter where he was Spider-Man. 

But if the original Ben died and turned to clone dust, then this technically is a wholly different character. The Spider-Man narrative takes pains to establish that clones are not the equivalent of their gene donors (there’s other troubling circumstances with Prowler during Clone Conspiracy that goes against this precedence too). So while the narrators and the characters treat Jackal-Ben as Ben Reilly there is an argument that he is a completely separate character who should be treated as being without all the baggage that came before.

That’s not how all this works, however; I’ve already talked about how the clones do and do not interact with their shared past with Peter and how it affects them. And the narrative here does give Jackal-Ben very sympathetic motivations (he wants to stop death) and a backstory that’s genuinely tragic but it is predicated on his connection to all the deaths he can remember- his own deaths, as well as the deaths that affected Peter either because of who he is or simply throughout his life. This story is framed as a tragedy of a hero falling to the dark side through understandable motivations. Over and over again, Jackal-Ben is shown restraining more outright villainous characters as well as being caring towards the people he wants to help. The only truly arguably sadistic thing he does through the story is clone Miles Warren himself and keep the knowledge from him of which of the Mileses is ‘the real one’. Even so, it’s understandable given what Warren has done to him throughout his life (either of them). It’s only at the end when his plans are falling apart that Jackal-Ben turns full villain. Regardless of whether or not he knew that his New U tech was likely to cause an apocalypse, rather than help contain the spreading infection from the clones, he attempts to kill everyone on the planet. 

Kaine is also in this series; his role is lesser than Ben or Peter’s but significant. He finds out prior to Peter what the results of Ben’s genetic meddling will bring (surprise, it’s the end of everything as usual). He is a deeply pragmatic person and while he doesn’t know from the start that Jackal is actually Ben this time, it doesn’t change his decision to kill the person responsible.

If this was the Kaine of Clone Saga or even during the Ben Reilly Spider-Man years, it could be argued that this is another example of Kaine’s jealousy towards Ben boiling over into violence. But this is not the same Kaine; as shown above discussing his solo series, Kaine has stakes in whether or not the world dies now. He has people he cares about deeply and I think it’s a more accurate interpretation that Kaine is afraid of what happens if he hesitates. He may not show it on panel, but it’s a clear unstated thought process - Jackal kills off everyone, Peter doesn’t kill (usually) therefore I cannot leave the possibility open so I must kill Jackal myself to prevent the future outcome. The fact that Ben is revealed to be Jackal doesn’t really factor into this linear thought process. 

The other piece of the Kaine subplot is that (due to another overly convoluted storyline) Kaine is dying from the cellular degeneration again. He has a ticking clock again after all the time being free of it and instead of doing as he did the first time, merc-for-hire, trying to find a cure, he chooses the heroic route. He chooses to help save the world. At this point Kaine is a full-formed heroic character and has completed his redemption arc. 

At the end of of Clone Conspiracy, Ben escapes apparent death. He manipulates and plays on the emotions of a woman who worked for him/seemingly genuinely believed in the good that could come from their cloning process. He pays a few guys to threaten her so he can step in to ‘save’ her from them and getting her to help fund his flight to Vegas.

This is the starting point of  _ Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider _ (2017).

###  **Vol 1 - Back in the Hood (1-6)**

* * *

In the opening monologue of issue #1, Ben both complains about his current circumstances as well as justifying his actions which definitely include planned genocide of the human race. He is also quite self-pitying, which an apparition of his former Scarlet Spider self points out in the narrative. Ben then notes a mugging happening, lamenting that his first act in town (he has relocated to Las Vegas) is “only” stopping a purse-snatcher and then extorts money from the woman he just rescued. 

This is where our ‘hero’ is starting out. 

This is not to say that you can’t bring a character through a journey of self-discovery and go from a selfish perspective to one that suggests a genuine want to do good. In  _ Guardians of the Galaxy _ (2014), the characters basically are all selfish assholes but even they recognize the need to save the universe and by such, find they actually like the feeling that comes with doing good for good’s sake. The first six issues here don’t appear to be doing this however. Ben doesn’t seem to want to be better than he was, given that he laments his loss of power. 

Ben’s somewhat sketchy plan includes approaching Cassandra Mercury, a casino owner whom Ben first encountered during his time as the Jackal. She was one of the people he approached for financing as her daughter was dying from a terminal disease. Ben replaced her daughter (Abigail) with a clone as he had with all the others he purported to cure, but all the clones died at the end of the  _ Clone Conspiracy _ . 

Cassandra Mercury and her right hand man, Slate, are new characters not only to the series but in general. Cassandra is a wealthy businesswoman that trades in secrets and leverage primarily. Slate is a super-human (it is revealed in a later volume how/what he is) that serves her faithfully and affectionately refers to her as “Diva”. Cassandra is one of the obstacles in the series for Ben to go up against. She has the capital he needs to keep himself safe (or whatever else he plans on) but she has no intention of letting Ben walk away from her - in fact, upon meeting him again she wants to kill him for giving her false hope. Cassandra did get the real Abigail back but with less of a chance at survival than before. 

Within the first issue, Ben and Cassandra engage in a standoff- she only stays her hand because Ben somehow convinces her that he will still cure Abigail of this incurable disease. Ben is trading his knowledge and willingness to work on a cure for Cassandra not killing him outright. 

The other big obstacle and obstinably antagonist/deuteragonist of the series, is Kaine Parker, the current Scarlet Spider. He too wants to kill Ben for being responsible for nearly obliterating mankind. He spends the first few issues of this volume tracking him down via an ex-NewU employee and then through one of the company’s seized buildings. This alerts Ben to Kaine and he sends out a goon squad to slow him down (for a man low on capital, he certainly seems to have enough to hire mercenaries). Kaine’s behavior in these issues border on obsessional and when he confronts Ben in #4-6, he has no patience for any of Ben’s explanations or mind games. Kaine eventually relents, likely due to not wanting to contribute to a small child’s death on the outside chance that Ben could actually cure her. He intends to kill Ben only after the fact. 

Issues #1-2 establish where the characters are and what their current motivations are pretty clearly - mostly killing Ben and Ben not wanting that to happen. It also sets in place how Ben is going to accomplish this, by using a sick child as a bargaining chip. This is a good way to start things off but after that, things quickly fall apart. There is progression on plot points- Kaine working to catch up with Ben by following a trail that leads him to Vegas, Cassandra keeps Ben under control with the threat of a tracker that will explode, and then the introduction during the later issues of two more recurring characters- Cassandra’s brother Silas Thorne and Death.

Thorne is fairly minor as things go- he’s mostly used as a ‘thorn’ in Cassandra’s side and a rival businessman to cause havoc throughout the series. Death has been established as a ‘character’ in the Marvel universe for several decades. However rather than the female Grim Reaper often used to represent Death, Death has chosen the appearance of Marlo Chandler. Marlo is a character established in the Marvel universe as well but new readers wouldn’t really know the connection she has to super-heroes nor likely would know that she was a character in Peter David’s long run on Hulk. It’s probably meant to be a nod to his fans but it comes across as just an odd choice in-universe. Why would Death pick a former ‘reality star’ for its appearance? Especially as Marlo doesn’t have any connection to Ben. It would make more sense if Death was using the form to speak to Rick Jones (her ex-husband) or the Hulk. But Ben never encountered Marlo during his tenure as Spider-Man (I realize he says he knows Marlo from some reality tv show but my point still stands). 

The importance of introducing Death to the series has to do with Ben’s status as a hero. Death follows a pair of criminals that are indiscriminately murdering people. Death draws Ben’s attention to them as well and watches to see what Ben chooses to do with the information. Death asserts that there is a natural order/fate to the universe and that free will doesn’t really exist. But if this is the case, what is the point of testing to see if Ben would stop the killers from killing more people? 

This part of the issue does feel like more of the ‘true’ Ben coming back; his anger at the senseless violence, particularly shooting people, harkens back to Uncle Ben’s death. It’s a nice call back moment even if (our) Ben does end up shooting one of the murderers in the kneecap before the woman he saved begs him not to continue the violence. 

Using the character of Death allows David to keep returning to one theme that recurs in this volume and the series itself- Ben wrestling with the idea of God and in general whether or not he is someone who is ‘worth’ saving any longer. This is just barely touched on in the first volume, but we do have Ben’s hallucination mention Lucifer’s fall from grace. Ben also mentions that he doesn’t believe there is anything after death due to his experiences with Jackal and being killed so many times. Yet, only a few issues later, in a fight with Kaine he offers to share his experiences after death with him. This is odd considering Kaine himself has died and come back more than a couple times himself, even during the time Ben was alive originally. This is likely just a tactic Ben is using to distract Kaine as he spends most of their fight in #5-6 talking his head off at Kaine, trying to convince him to stop attacking him. 

Another character I’ve been reluctant to address is also introduced in the first volume, “Aunt” June. I will attempt to be diplomatic but to be frank, I loathe this character and everything related to her. She’s clearly an homage to Aunt May but frankly, it’s a poor one if not outright insulting. I will go into further depth later on but to sum up how and where she came from- when Ben enters the casino owned by Cassandra Mercury, he spots June sitting at a slot machine. She is not a kindly (or particularly interesting character) which is part of the joke- she’s a crabby old gambler who doesn’t even acknowledge Ben except to tell him to shut up. Ben latches onto her because.... 

As mentioned before, Ben sees hallucinations in the first issue, both of his old Scarlet Spider self (a hero) and then his Jackal incarnation, basically acting as shoulder angels and devils respectively. Granted, this could be me taking things a bit too literally. It could be just another instance of Ben wrestling with his own inner thoughts and demons but the way it’s depicted along with Ben associating random people with people from his past- he asks the woman he saves from a mugging if her name is MJ or Gwen and expresses disappointment when she gives him her actual name. He sees June and her husband (not named Ben) and decides that she’s his aunt. This is important enough to him, apparently, that when negotiating for working on a cure for Abigail for Cassandra, he makes getting June a suite and unlimited quarters part of the deal. I assume this is trying to put emphasis on Ben’s fragile mental state but it’s so infrequently used and basically dropped in the later volumes that it comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. 

This sort of thing isn’t an outlier; I haven’t even really addressed other odd things, like a supposed group of Spider-Man fans calling themselves the Web Spinners that have inexplicably a) set up in Las Vegas and b) try to fight crime in the very casino owned by Cassandra Mercury. Frankly, it seemed more like an excuse to get Ben back in his old costume. Especially as they aren’t ever referred to again. Speaking of which, that was another thing that was dropped inexplicably - the new design of his Scarlet Spider only lasts the first two issues and only for a handful of panels at that. There is mention that he stole it from a cosplayer but it pretty much leads to more questions than answers that way. 

One of the problems of this first volume is that, while we can easily pinpoint what the other characters (Kaine, Cassandra, even Slate) want, our hero, Ben isn’t as easy to state. What is Ben’s goal? To survive? To get back to his status as a hero? To go back to manipulating people as he did during his tenure as the Jackal? Ben’s goals are undefined and thus it makes it hard to get a handle on what he needs to do in order to accomplish this. Perhaps this is on purpose, perhaps the point  _ is _ that Ben has no motivation and is a “lost soul” in need of a goal or something to work towards. If so, this isn’t the best depiction due to the fact that Ben feels little if any remorse or motivation to change. Nothing comes from him internally save for the very, very brief appearance of his old Scarlet Spider “self”. He can be clad in his old clothes but that does not mean he understands why he put them on in the first place.  


###  **Vol 2 - Death’s Sting (6-9/ Slingers 0)**

* * *

Now we get into the stakes for Ben’s soul- literally. 

Issue #6 is included in both volumes, likely due to the fact it deals with Kaine being killed at the end of it. Issue #7 goes right from that moment to Ben confronting Death about it and his expectations regarding his “brother”. He views Kaine as someone he expects to stick around, as a ‘nemesis’ or long-term rival that he has to have a big battle with that only one of them can survive. I could say that this is probably the only bit of call back to their origins during Clone Saga. On the other hand, this is pretty far removed from who they are  _ now _ as characters. Despite Kaine going after Ben to kill him in this run, this really isn’t the same situation as it was during the 90’s. Kaine during that time was a bonafide antagonist with no real motivation to hurt Ben other than what I went over in the previous sections. Nor did Ben deserve the antagonism through any action on his part. After both their resurrections this is not the case and to simplify it to a call back to that time in their life is bordering on disingenuous. Not that I’m entirely convinced that this is what this is- I think David simply wanted to use Kaine’s character to bounce off of considering he gives a good chunk of narrative weight to keeping him in the series and nothing else deeper is explored really. 

So we have Death deciding (on a whim) to kill Kaine while declaring that Ben is “special”. Why is he special? Because he’s a hero? That he proved that he was more than just a copy of another man? Nope. Because he’s died a lot. The narrative has put forth the idea that Ben’s soul has been “damaged” from being killed/brought back so many times. This idea is contingent upon all the clones having the same soul of course which is a newer idea as previous storylines established all clones as being unique. Moreover, at what point does the damage take place? What about other heroes that have died and come back such as Hawkeye or Phoenix? Does that affect them as well or is Ben different because he is a clone? 

Death also states that if he dies again, he will go bad basically (or badder rather considering he still is the same person that tried to replace everyone on earth with clones- no I will not stop bringing this up as the narrative utterly drops it). So, rather than place the responsibility of his actions on Ben himself and make him accountable for them, the narrative is that because he was victimized by Jackal (something that is quite heartbreaking) the state of his soul isn’t his fault. Death does state that he can regain who he was if he does good in the world.

In contrast to this, the Kaine narrative in the previous series had Kaine confronted by his past actions, felt remorse and shame for them but even though the story knows and acknowledges Jackal’s abuse to an extent, Kaine is solely responsible for how he grows out of his villainous origins. Granted, you could point out that his ‘reset’ during Spider Island was undeserved. It is arguable, but bear in mind how each hero, Ben and Kaine act after these points; knowing what death is like, having been villains with sympathetic origins and clawing their way into a chance at being a hero. 

Backing up a bit, Ben gets Death to not only bring back Kaine from death but also to bring back Abigail. I hadn’t mentioned it prior but Ben gave her an untested cocktail of drugs in an effort to address her fatal disease. It kills her instead. He killed her because he was being impatient and rash. Ben does feel remorse for this and this is why he wants both people back despite Death telling him he can only choose one. Not that it matters because after Ben punches Death a few times, they change their mind because.... Reasons. It’s not clear on the page why Death finds it amusing to be punched but YKINMK, I guess. So both Kaine and Abigail are alive again and no one knows that Ben screwed up the formula he used on Abigail, leaving Cassandra to feel indebted to him. Oh and Death clears up Ben’s cloning degeneration scars on his face too for good measure. 

Frankly, Kaine’s reaction to this information in #8 feels like the most honest and ‘real’ reaction to any of this set up. He punches Ben in the face and then in the ensuing fight, Ben has the audacity to say he never wanted to kill anyone. The entire goal behind Clone Conspiracy was to cheat death by replacing people with “perfect” clones, regardless of whether they wanted to be cloned. Rather than this issue really honing in on Ben’s time as the Jackal and whether or not he’s come to terms with it, the issue time jumps to months in the future (set after the Secret Empire event).  


The event has left Vegas devastated and Cassandra’s brother, Thorne, is attempting to use the superhero Hornet from the Slingers against her in order to destroy her reputation. Another character introduced during these last two issues (8 & 9) is Misty, the daughter of Mysterio, although this appearance is just to establish her as in the area and as someone who manipulates people using her own illusionary powers.

Ricochet (another Slinger) also shows up and works with Ben to go after Hornet and there’s a fight spread across both issues that ends with Hornet inexplicably pulling out some eldritch horror trap to use against the other two. The only other issue in the volume is a reprint of Slingers #0, which was the intro issue to the characters back in 1998 via a Wizard insert and has no real bearing on the storyline.

Although it’s not the series’ fault that its main location of Vegas was also used in a big event in a way they couldn’t ignore, the fact of the matter is this volume is very disjointed. What are Ben’s goals? Is there is any progress from the first volume? What has changed really? Ben was told his soul is damaged but we don’t really get to know how that affects him on a deeper level. He doesn’t have any emotional connection to anyone except arguably Kaine. He has no support group and his “supporting” characters either despise him or want to kill him outright. 

Death told Ben he needs to be good essentially in order to heal his soul. But is that coming across? In one panel in #9, he’s angry about a kid Slate killed but in another he’s threatening to kill Hornet. You could say it’s smack talk certainly but this is a man that has killed before. It’s reasonable to be concerned when he’s threatening people, especially when, as stated, he’s supposed to be getting back to being a hero. 

The disjointed storyline may have benefited from putting all the Slingers stories in one volume and starting with issue #8 instead but that only affecting reading the issues in a volume, reading them individually doesn’t address the other problems these issues have. 

"Aunt" June watch - has an appearance in #9 but doesn't interact with Ben at all. Again. She has a small subplot with a child that will be addressed in the next Volume. 


	7. Vol 3-5 of Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider (2017)

### Vol 3 - Slingers Return (10-14)

* * *

Most of these issues focus on the Slingers coming back which is not exactly to Ben’s benefit here. There is heavy plot work that involves a lot of callback to comic book history- the Slingers themselves, the reveal of Hornet is actually Cyber, but none of it has an organic connection to Ben himself. Nor are these plots or revelations driven by Ben himself. He happens across the information, usually by another character handing it to him with no effort on his part. This isn’t to suggest Ben is being lazy as a protagonist but rather that he’s not being allowed to be in charge of a story obstinably about him and his growth as a hero. The Diogenes Initiative is introduced in this volume but it’s not because Ben is doing detective work or stumbling across something sinister- rather it’s announced to him by Cyber and the person posing as Black Marvel. There is no reason to care about this; they literally could be admitting that they work for Chuck E. Cheese and it would have just as much relevance save for the fact that Slate, Cassandra’s right hand man, has history with the Initiative. Even this connection is tenuous as Ben still isn’t making any emotional connections to anyone in the books. 

Also for a book with at least one big fight scene per issue, there is a surprising lack of actual crime fighting. Not since the mugging in the first issue has Ben been proactive about stopping crime. Even the men shooting people randomly during Death’s introduction in the previous volume didn’t happen because Ben sought them out himself, he was led to them by Death. Again, the lack of agency for Ben in his own title makes him feel less of a person and just as flat as the pages he’s drawn on. 

The only real bit of emotional work happens after Ben violently assaults Silas Thorne; initially he feels justified and pleased with himself. When he finds that his scarring has come back, it takes Death reappearing to remind him of the conditions of their deal. His actions were a poor choice and he now has a physical reflection of that. This isn’t a bad idea necessarily, a ticking clock on his face that could serve as a manifestation of his worst impulses- this is fairy tale 101 stuff. 

Instead of Ben realizing his error organically, he’s goaded by the Slingers to take responsibility for his assault which isn’t exactly the most ringing endorsement for a hero but this is supposed to be Ben journeying back to being a better person. 

Ben does ruminate on his mistake, admitting that he went too far but not wanting to go to jail (again). This is natural but it also shows the weakness in the character building as well. When Ben expresses hesitation because of “Aunt” June, this is beyond ridiculous. As I’ve kept note of, Ben hasn’t interacted with her for at least 10 issues. He doesn’t know anything about her. The reader knows a scant bit more through small scenes but otherwise it makes Ben’s concern for her well-being laughable at best. 

Unfortunately for this minor character growth, it doesn’t even have consequences in the end. By the time they all fight off Black Marvel and Cyber, everyone is okay with Ben walking away without answering for his actions rendering everything that happened essentially without meaning. This isn’t always a necessary process- bad guys don’t always get punished and heroes are often allowed to be forgiven for lapses in judgment but, given the fact it’s taken more than a dozen issues to even address Ben’s violence, it does seem to make the gesture seem limp and pointless. Especially in light of the fact that after this goes down, Ben goes after Mysterio to threaten him. 

This wouldn’t be much of an issue, save for the fact that Ben literally dresses like a criminal with a ski mask hiding his identity and then the issue tries to draw a parallel between himself and Mysterio, who wants a fresh start. Ben essentially gives Mysterio the okay to do it- but again, the lack of consequences for actions is disturbing. Mysterio is a villain and a criminal and while he isn’t necessarily doing criminal work here, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have outstanding warrants or doesn’t owe reparations for what he’s done. The lack of an ethos for the character leaves Ben rudderless and adrift amongst plots without a guiding force of his own. 

Surprisingly this doesn’t apply to Kaine nearly as much despite not being the title character. Kaine’s character is very true to his principles in general, even if they are more pragmatic than traditional heroes. Kaine’s bonding with and protection of the VA group leads him to feel responsible for helping them when they run into financial difficulties. He ends up working with Ben to save Cassandra from the Slingers and in doing so, gains her attention on the VA. Kaine doesn’t even suggest she ‘owes’ him for the rescue; he tells her that she can make her own decision on what to do after he explains their situation. Thus the check Cassandra writes for the VA feels far more honest than anything Ben’s done. 

This volume’s section is more sparse because there isn’t a lot to work with as far as Ben’s character goes. The epilogue of #10 reiterates the idea that Ben has two sides fighting for control- the Jackal side and the Scarlet Spider side but frankly this hasn’t been anything since the first issue so it seems odd that it’s being brought up again. Additionally, Ben does have a hallucination of killing Cassandra that appears out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly without Ben remarking upon it. There’s a bit of a slapdash approach to these characteristics, seemingly applying them at random and dropped just as quickly when plot or something else takes precedence. 

Aunt June Watch- Still no interaction between June and Ben; Ben even mentions her in #12 but he literally has had zero interaction with her since their first encounter. The only thing of note is that the “little girl” June took under her wing has red glowing eyes and apparently psychic powers. Her actual identity isn’t revealed until the next volume.

###  **Vol 4 - Damnation (15-20)**

* * *

The first three issues in this volume deal with the Damnation event/crossover from the Dr. Strange book. While the more mystic elements seem somewhat out of place with a character rooted in sci-fi style origins, _Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider_ has been consistently using such elements since the first issues, so it seems pointless to complain about demons running around now.

When Strange attempted to rectify the surface damage done during Secret Empire, he unwittingly unleashed a portal to hell in the middle of downtown Vegas. This is centered upon the Hotel Inferno, a new foothold for Mephisto. During this, Ben ends up noticing that June is not in her usual place, which signals to him that there is something wrong.

When Jezebel (the redhead child that befriended June) is revealed to have kidnapped her, Ben is depicted actually punching her in the face. The lack of strong morality in this series is only compounded by odd choices in either art or ‘humor’ in the book. Again, a grown man, obstinably a hero, is shown punching a character with the appearance of a child. Without going into real life domestic abuse, the fact of the matter is this was a bad idea. Editors or someone at some point should have put a stop to one of their ‘heroes’ being portrayed punching a child, regardless of any narrative explanations. This isn’t an outlier either; the very next issue has Ben actually doing a “stop hitting yourself” gag with someone that turns out to be just a regular person who has an eye condition (and is not a demon). Black humor has its place and there is a certain YMMV aspect to it, but it’s still hard to reconcile this sort of act with a heroic or even sympathetic figure.

Ben is tasked with joining the Midnight Sons during the battle by Jezebel and finds that the Avengers have been turned into demons. This is yet another odd choice for the narrative; if Ben is supposed to be doing good deeds to save his soul, why does it take being coerced into doing so? Jezebel uses June for collateral in order to force Ben to join up. Why is this necessary except to show the shadowy “powers that be” pulling the strings behind the scenes?

When Ben does meet with the Midnight Sons, he’s tasked (somewhat inexplicably) to guard the outside of the Inferno by himself. He whines to himself like a rookie hero about being stuck with this duty but this is more of a minor quibble than anything substantively objectionable. What is interesting is the notion that Ben has trouble telling the good guys from the bad guys. This is something that Mephisto taunts him with as well as pointing out that Ben can’t tell he’s being a bad person either. It’s a nice hook that could go somewhere but unfortunately doesn’t really stick. Mephisto does the usual devil’s deal, offering to fix all of Ben’s problems for him. He agrees to the bargain but in the end, doesn’t fulfill it. Ultimately the narrative pulls back from really saying anything about this idea though. Ben doesn’t consider what this means for him as a person or a hero, nor does he make any decision to use any other moral guide to help him make decisions. He simply checks to see if his scarring is worse and then moves on, taking out any depth from this idea. 

Elsewhere Jezebel is revealed as watching over Ben’s decisions, including him considering shoot Wong in the middle of a fight to prevent the Midnight Sons from winning. She is joined by a figure we’re not introduced to yet, though they will be next volume. They are part of the Diogenes Initiative, and there’s a bit of dialogue but mostly this scene is to keep the organization relevant to the series. They are also the ones that kidnapped June in order to force Ben’s hand so even though the characters imply that Black Marvel from the previous volume ‘went off script’ basically, there is an undercurrent of sinister intent to them.

There is a continuation of the Mysterio ‘problem’ in this volume where Ben acknowledges that he might not have made the best decision but immediately justifies it by convincing himself that Mysterio would simply leave town if he had carried out a threat against him and become someone else’s problem. This is a consistent characterization of Ben throughout this series in a way that has to be deliberate. For a character struggling with being “good”, this is not necessarily a bad idea, but there isn’t enough of a strong opposite force in the story to let Ben know that all his power does mean he’s responsible for what happens, even when super villains retire.

The next issues, #17-19, deal with the Mysterio plot that had been seeded in prior issues. The plot has Misty transporting the Mercury Rising hotel (Cassandra’s place) into another dimension so she can have access to the worship site for Cyttorak below it. Dusk (one of the Slingers) is brought back as she was the person who first warned Ben about Mysterio. Meanwhile Kaine ends up in the other dimension with the hotel. This happens to be the dimension that the Mindless Ones live in so he and Slate get to have off-panel fight scenes. 

It’s revealed in short order that Misty needs to sacrifice her father to gain power. Ben and Dusk interrupt, causing an accident that “kills” Misty; I use quotations here because even though it’s not revealed in these issues, Misty is actually a gynoid which puts a few points in an odd light. Misty mentions growing up/puberty but if she’s synthetic, does this mean Mysterio has been constantly upgrading her so she can “grow up”? There’s no implication that there was ever a real Misty that she’s replacing so it’s mostly just an odd storytelling choice. 

Again there is wasted opportunity to give depth to a relatively average story. There could’ve been a call back to Clone Conspiracy about what lengths people will go to achieve their ends and how the people they love are the ones that suffer most. While I would prefer plumbing the character’s overall history, it’s not like the Clone Conspiracy books would be difficult for new readers to find or even already know about as it was written only a year prior to the  _ Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider _ series. 

Although I haven’t mentioned Kaine a lot in this volume, he has been involved in all the plots, albeit in mostly minor ways. Kaine does help during the demon issues and even has a subplot where he is following up on a lead after Hippo attacked his friend’s brother. This ties back into the Diogenes plotline but no one is aware of that yet. 

The last issue is more of an introduction to the next arc in the series. For something that seemed rather urgent in the first couple issues, there hasn’t been much movement on the ‘cure Abigail or die’ plot since the issues when Death was introduced. This thread is picked up again as Ben goes after the researcher he discovered who specializes in this particular disease. (Why Cassandra hadn’t contacted this man prior is not addressed). Ben then sneaks onto a military base to reach out to him and luckily has scars that conveniently disappear in time for him to impersonate a generic soldier. When he gains access to the researcher (Shelton) it’s revealed that his assistant is Sauron, a mutant pterodactyl because of course.

Aunt June Watch - Still no direct interaction with Ben. Is briefly kidnapped and then returned to continue to have no point whatsoever and yet the book keeps dragging her corpse into the narrative. Fun times!

###  **Vol 5 - Deal With the Devil (20-25)**

* * *

This is the final volume of the series, running from issue #20 (repeat) through #25. These issues mostly focus on Ben’s quest to cure Abigail of her terminal illness, with stops along the way for fighting.

Issue #21 leads directly from the reveal of Sauron into a fight with the mutant. During the fight, Shelton is mortally wounded but gives Ben more information about the Diogenes group, specifically their address. Meanwhile, Kaine ends up fighting off a Mindless One in a deeply stupid subplot that’s mostly there to give an excuse for the Diogenes people a chance to show up again. This leads to Kaine and Ben both ending up at the same location (though not at the same time), the cover for the Diogenes Initiative. Somehow a house in the suburbs that goes 180 degrees to a vacant lot goes unnoticed by regular people.

Kaine is captured prior to Ben showing up, so Ben ends up having a conversation with Jezebel and her “boss”, who claims to be the angel Gabriel. Ben is skeptical but Gabriel points out that if there are beings like Mephisto and the Son of Satan, why wouldn’t there be an equal and opposite force? On the surface, this seems sound enough but their methodology is suspect. Recall that this is the group that created Slate, a bodyguard to a criminal, gave a supervillain their life back masquerading as a dead hero and Black Marvel (who died via holy water) was one of theirs. All of this is right in front of our hero(es) among other things and yet none of this is  remarked upon . Instead Ben is, again, given something he hasn’t earned - a cure for Abigail’s disease. 

Ben leaves with Kaine to head back to Cassandra and Abigail and Kaine also validates Ben by pointing out that he’s been through so much. Granted, this is not necessarily out of character, but it does ring hollow when Ben had brought it on himself after all. The lack of acknowledgement of his own complicity in his fate is frustrating and lessens any gains he may make. 

Ben attempts to inject the angel blood into Abigail when a supposed “time-traveling future version” of Abigail shows up. A long, convoluted story is told to the group as ‘future’ Abigail is asking to be allowed to die instead of living through years of suffering. This turns out to be Mephisto punishing Ben for reneging on their bargain from the previous volume. 

Mephisto has Kaine, Cassandra and Slate see Ben decide to selfishly keep the cure to himself; the story about the time-traveling Abigail seems weirdly unnecessary in this context- why not just have Ben “hear” actual child Abigail ask to be released from her pain instead? Especially as it isn’t just Ben that has the vision of future Abigail but everyone there. So while a devil will do whatever they please, the issue ends up feeling weirdly padded out for little payoff.

Mephisto declares that if Ben can survive for an hour while the other three attempt to kill him, then he will fix their memories. Cassandra gets in a good stab but the majority of the fight is between Kaine and Ben. Ben attempts to reason with him but the issue ends with Kaine shooting Ben. Ben chose to take the bullet as he saw Cassandra coming up to attack as well and she would’ve been in the path if he moved, which is probably the most heroic act he’s done the entire series. 

In the final issue, #25, Ben wakes up dead. Mephisto attempts to get Ben to come with him to hell, claiming he belongs there because he’s a villain, but Ben refuses. This is when Abigail’s soul intervenes. In the previous issue, Ben did manage to give her the cure after she apparently died. This apparently means that Abigail is either part or full angel now and she fights off Mephisto in Ben’s body. This also means that she can restore Ben to life. He doesn’t want this as he remembers what Death told him about his soul/dying just once more. Abigail tells him, “you’re a hero, you could never be evil”, which is such a laughable statement I can’t even bother to address it. Also, if Abigail knows so much now, wouldn’t she know about his soul? It’s a moot point now.

Ben is restored to life and quickly it’s established that yes, Death was correct and Ben is eeeeeevil now. Misty, the gynoid, returns just to prove this very fact to the audience- by having Ben punch a hole through her. Granted as she’s not human, this somewhat lessens the impact but he ‘enjoys it’ so there’s that. Ben’s next stop on his tour of evil, is finding Kaine and stabbing him repeatedly with his friend’s prosthetic arm through his torso. He demands Kaine leave Vegas (if he survives) and then the comic ends with Ben laughing/sobbing in the rain (how nice of the weather to go against natural patterns for dramatic effect). 

Ultimately, nothing Ben does matters in this series. He doesn’t save Abigail. He doesn’t save his soul. He doesn’t do anything that makes an impact on anyone’s life for the better, except arguably facilitating June’s gambling problem. 

Aunt June Watch- Actual Ben and June interaction in #23; literally he has not seen for 22 issues and she is tasked with giving him a warning that doesn’t actually matter and then disappears again until #25 where Cassandra says she will continue to give free room/board to the old bat. 


	8. Conclusion

**CONCLUSION**

* * *

This series is bad and should feel bad.

Through the whole of this series, there really isn’t much to indicate that Ben goes through such a change of heart or even begins to recall or reconnect with his previous heroic roots. Despite the fact he re-dons the original hoodie suit, there’s little to no call back to any of his history. 

This paints me as maybe a comics’ snob or a gatekeeper but I would like to point out that the series that predicated this series, Clone Conspiracy, is deeply rooted in comics’ history - all these deaths that happened around Spider-Man including Ben himself and the Jackal who is not one of the best known of Spider-Man villains. Moreover, I would think that anyone that is picking up a comic book about a recently returned from the dead clone of Spider-Man who hasn’t been around since 1996 might be already interested in rooting the story in in-universe lore and history.

But, let’s go with the premise that this series jettisons nearly all connection to Ben’s past in order not to overwhelm or confuse new readers. What’s left then? You have a character who was a hero not acting like a hero and being utterly selfish in all his motivations. 

So did I just write however many thousands of words to say ‘thing A good, thing B bad’? Yes and no. I freely admit I have deep irritation with the Ben Reilly series but it comes less from a place of disdain and more of a place of frustration. Would I rather have a Kaine Parker series? Certainly. But having him  _ in _ a series, obstinately with a character he has a deep and tangled history is not something I  _ want _ to dislike. The point of this whole screed is that these characters are interesting and even giving Ben a redemption arc is something that could work. The way this series framed it, however, is badly handled and does a disservice to all the characters involved. 

The most damning part I can pinpoint among the issues with  _ Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider _ is the fact that Ben lacks a lot of agency in his series. Things happen to and/or around Ben but very little is self-directed. For a narrative redemption to work, the redemption has to be earned by the character and that only works if the character puts in the necessary labor to do it. Having the cosmos hand deliver a redemption from nowhere and seemingly for no reason shortchanges the character and feels like cheating. There is an argument to be made that this feeling is inherently misplaced because redemption can’t really be earned but as far as telling a satisfying narrative, I don’t think that sort of philosophy works. 

Granted, as of #25 of  _ Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider _ , we have hit the final issue of the series with a rather anti-climatic ending in which Ben loses his soul after supposedly working so hard not to. Is he a full anti-hero now? A demon? Probably Ben will not be used for many, many years and this particular plot point will either be forgotten or handwaved with an “I got better” explanation. 

There were a lot of writing choices on this series that I can’t fathom (fucking  _ Aunt June _ ) but it was nice to get them out in as concise format as I could manage. Thank you for indulging a comic book nerd in her passion for Spider-Clones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say.... does anyone want me to discuss the Summers family tree? ;)


End file.
